Removing the “Reasonable Punishment” Defence in Wales

Abstract

In January 2020, the Welsh parliament passed the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act to repeal the “reasonable punishment” defence. The Act states that “corporal punishment of a child taking place in Wales cannot be justified in any civil or criminal proceedings on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.”  The Act also compels the Welsh Government to promote public awareness and to monitor and report on the impacts of the ban three and five years after coming into force. The Act received Royal Assent on March 20, 2020 and came into force two years later. This article traces the history of the campaign to prohibit corporal punishment by parents and those acting in loco parentis. Factors relating to the government, the population and civil society which may contributed to success in Wales are laid out. Some factors are addressed that may explain the lack of progress so far in Wales’s nearest neighbour, England.