Leading public lawyer Mai Chen says New Zealand’s 2007 changes to smacking law have criminalised “good parents”.
A legal opinion signed by Ms Chen for the lobby group Family First says case law since Section 59 of the Crimes Act was changed have confirmed that is now illegal for parents to use force against a child for the purpose of correction, even if the force is “reasonable”.
“Therefore, in our opinion, statements made by politicians to the effect that the new Section 59 does not criminalise ‘good parents’ for lightly smacking their children are inconsistent with the legal effect of Section 59 and the application of that section in practice,” the opinion says. Continue reading
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