Gwybodaeth ychwanegol a anfonwyd wedi’r sesiwn dystiolaeth ar 2 Mai 2019 (Saesneg yn unig)	Additional information sent following evidence session on 2 May 2019
Oddi wrth: Rhwydwaith Amddiffyniad Cyfartal Cymru	From: Equal Protection Network Cymru

Academic references:

· Equally Protected? A review of the evidence on the physical punishment of children

Report commissioned by the NSPCC Scotland, Children 1st, Barnardo’s Scotland and the Children  and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland

November 2015 - Anja Heilmann, Yvonne Kelly and Richard G Watt

· Journal of Family Psychology Spanking and Child Outcomes: Old Controversies and New Meta-Analyses Elizabeth T. Gershoff and Andrew Grogan-Kaylor

· Joan Durrant – Response to Robert Larzelere  - Law Reform and Corporal Punishment in Sweden

· Man charged with intimidating witness in child-slapping case – Case in Ireland

· The positive impact of the corporal punishment ban in Sweden - Staffan Janson Professor of Pediatrics (see Annex)

ANNEX

The positive impact of the corporal punishment ban in Sweden.

Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce a corporal punishment ban in the families in 1979. Similar laws in the other Scandinavian countries soon followed, and during the last ten years, there has been an explosive introduction of bans in more than 50 countries all over the world. Meanwhile well-performed scientific studies have confirmed that corporal punishment of children have similar detrimental effects on children´s health and development as physical abuse. In 1979, this was not known for sure. The ban was rather based on experiences of severe child abuse cases in the 1960s and a long-standing discussion about child rights. The public and political resistance against the ban successively decreased during the 1970s. The Swedish Parliament voted almost unanimously in favor of the proposed ban (259 in favor, six against and three abstentions) to amend the Parental Code to include an explicit ban on all forms of physical punishment or other abusive treatment of children. The figure below shows the resulting change in parental attitudes and behavior.

We have constructed the figure from successive national parental surveys using the same methodology – the Conflict Tactic Scale. The arrow indicates the year of the ban. While more than 50 % of Swedish parents were in favor of corporal punishment in the 1960s, only a few percent agree with this view at the current time. In practice, we can see that parents without severe mental disorders looks upon corporal punishment as a disgusting behavior. The same tremendous change has happened concerning behavior. While almost all parents spanked his or her child at least once during the last year in the 1960s, this is very rare nowadays.  We have even been able to show, that immigrant families who are well integrated in the Swedish society acquire the same attitudes and behavior towards their children, even if they come from cultures, where physical punishments of children are regular parental behavior.

Karlstad, Sweden 2019-05-10.

Staffan Janson

Professor of Pediatrics