A new polling in the United Kingdom confirms that a big majority says parents are not criminals because they spank their children.
The YouGov.co.uk polling shows that among all adults, only 12% say spanking children definitely should be criminalized, and 18% say it probably should. But 35% say it probably should not and another 25% say it definitely should not.
Men stood out in their agenda for appropriate corporal punishment with 31% saying it definitely should not be criminalized. Only 19% of women put themselves in that category.
Age also made a difference with 50% of those 18-24 saying it should be criminalized, while 65% of those 50-64 said it should not, and an overwhelming 75% of those 65-plus in that category.
The Christian Institute commented on the polling of almost 4,000 adults in Great Britain, pointing out the result “comes amid pressure to ban smacking in England and Northern Ireland, with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health urging politicians to axe the legal defense of reasonable chastisement, which currently allows loving parents to lightly discipline their children without fear of prosecution.”
The Institute reported, “The areas where support for a smacking ban was highest were in Wales (41 per cent in favor) and Scotland (38 per cent in favor). However, while those countries implemented bans in 2022 and 2020 respectively, 51 per cent of the adults surveyed in each nation remained opposed to criminalising parents. Support for a ban was lowest in the Midlands, with just 26 per cent in favour, and 64 per cent opposed.”
The institute added, “Conservative voters were most likely to oppose a ban, with 77 per cent against it, with only 16 per cent in favour. Labour and Liberal Democrat voters were also broadly opposed, with 48 and 50 per cent opposed respectively, although 39 per cent of each group broadly supported a ban.”:
Simon Calvert, spokesman for the Be Reasonable campaign, said: “The Great British public is far wiser on this issue than the so-called parenting experts. They understand that children are already protected from assault and so changing the law on reasonable chastisement would simply mean prosecuting innocent parents for harmless behaviour. When it comes to the question of whether a mum should be able to tap a tot on the back of the hand, we should trust parents, not criminalise them.”
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