Timaru mother: "I have never beaten my children"

this article from Saturday's Press

"The Timaru mother acquitted of assaulting her son with a cane and a riding crop – and now facing a new trial for allegedly assaulting another son – says parents should be free to use implements to deliver a "short and sharp" shock to their children.

In an internet video, the mother defended her use of physical discipline and railed against proposed child-discipline legislation.

"I have never, ever beaten any of my children," she said in the 10-minute clip, posted to YouTube. com on Wednesday.

"I've disciplined them appropriately when they've needed it. As a last resort, I've used physical discipline; not a first resort."

The mother has name suppression and her face is pixellated in the video to prevent identification.

She and her husband appeared in the Timaru District Court on Thursday and were remanded on bail for a trial date to be set.

The woman's teenage son told the court he was hog-tied and kicked by his stepfather and punched by the pair during a journey together in January.

The stepfather pleaded guilty to two charges of assault and not guilty to one charge of assault with intent to injure. The woman pleaded not guilty to three charges of assault and one of assault with intent to injure.

Her earlier acquittal was cited as justification for Green Party MP Sue Bradford's bill to repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act, which allows parents to use reasonable force against their children.

The mother said yesterday that Prime Minister Helen Clark and Bradford had "deliberately lied about the facts of our case and manipulated the truth to fit into their own political agenda".

In the video, she called on parents to oppose the bill. "If section 59 is removed, parents in New Zealand need to be very, very afraid – not just of disciplining their children, but of CYF (Child, Youth and Family) intervention ... CYF will take your children.

"Even putting your hands on your child to take him to time-out will constitute assault. You will be charged and you will face losing your children through CYF.

"Even though I've been acquitted, CYF still say I'm a violent abuser... They paint me as being an angry woman who beat her child.

"I wasn't angry. I didn't beat him. The discipline was completely controlled."

In the video, she displays the riding crop and the cane she used on her son. She said the discipline "radically changed" his behaviour for the better.

The mother said yesterday it was "very appropriate" for parents to mete out discipline with implements, provided it was reasonable and controlled.

"The sting from a cane or crop is short and sharp, but not injurious. The sting only lasts 30 seconds but is memorable and effective," she said.

The man who filmed and posted the woman's video, Renton Maclachlan, of Wellington, said she had been unjustly treated.

He saw her story as part of the bigger cause and had posted several other videos on YouTube dealing with the child-discipline debate.

Child welfare group Barnardos said the fact the woman was back in court showed the need for a law change to reduce child abuse.

"When the 2005 Timaru jury acquitted that mother they gave her and her partner a false message concerning physical punishment of children," chief executive Murray Edridge said.

"Now the consequence of that earlier vindication is all too apparent.

"Perhaps the latest incident would have been avoided if the community, through the court, had told the family that the use of physical force in child discipline was unambiguously wrong."

The child-discipline bill will have its third and final reading when Parliament resumes in a fortnight."

Murray Edridge says: "Now the consequence of that earlier vindication is all too apparent." - groundlessly.  The two situations are entirely different.  The first case was concerning the mother smacking her son with a short cane, and then later with a riding crop.  The son said afterwards that the riding crop hurt less than the cane.  The second case has nothing to do with the first case.

Sweden's overall reported crime has increased dramatically

this from the Sweden's National Council for Crime Prevention website: http://www.bra.se

The number of reported crimes has increased for the majority of offence types during the period 1975-2004. Exceptions to this include amongst others fraud offences and burglaries, including residential break-ins. The trend over the past ten years reflects an increase in reported violent and sexual offences, whereas the number of reported theft offences is more or less the same as it was ten years ago.

The number of reported crimes against life and health, 1975-2004. The largest proportion of reported violent crime is comprised of assault offences. A total of just under 67,100 such offences were reported in 2004. The number of reported assaults against both children and adults has increased since 1975, and today stands at three times the level reported at that time.

Criminality over time Since 1950, overall reported criminality in Sweden has increased
dramatically. Various factors have contributed to this increase in the number of reported crimes in the post-war years. The primary explanation is the improvement in living conditions, which has resulted in greater access to goods that are prone to being stolen, in combination with reduce social control between people.

1950-1990
Up until 1964, there was a gentle increase in the total number of reported crimes. The period between 1965 and 1980 is characterised by a greater rate of increase and by major variations between different years. In 1970 just over 656,000 crimes were reported, while in 1980 the number of reported crimes reached around 928,000.
The period between 1980 and the beginning of the 1990s is characterised by an even greater rate of increase. On average, the number of reported crimes increased by 31,000 every year. Almost 1,219,000 crimes were reported in 1990.

1990 onwards
The number of reported crimes remained relatively constant during the 1990s, with slight increases and decreases in certain years. Over the past ten years, the number of violent crimes reported to the police (chapter 3 of Criminal Code) has increased by 35 percent (from 56,574 reported crimes in 1996 to 76,118 in 2005).

Section 59 is doing the job!

Report of the Riding Crop case from
http://familyintegrity.blogspo t.com

1. The mother was controlled. "The discipline was entirely controlled, over with very quickly and was very effective. AFTERWARDS he gave me a hug and apologised."

2. The small bamboo cane ("about the thickness of my little finger and between 12 and 18 inches in length. The type you use to stake a small pot plant") left a slight red mark that lasted less than an hour.

3. The riding crop left no red mark - it was two light smacks over trousered bottom on a 12 year old

4. Love was shown at the time of the smack (no yelling and swearing). "He apologised for his behaviour and I reassured him that I loved him but disliked the behaviour."

5. The boys behaviour changed. "After the discipline we had a well behaved, loving and compliant boy." "FROM this point on the boys behaviour changed radically for the better. We had a happy laughing cheerful child who was obedient and a pleasure to have around."

From reading the reports in the link above and from talking with the mother Section 59 worked very well in this case. This Timaru mother used reasonable force in the circumstances. (The Newsmedia reports, the MPs and the NGOs are not to be believed)


Report of the Wooden Spoon case from
http://www.nzherald.co.nz
Mum who hit son faces jail - 5:00AM Monday April 09, 2007

A Hawkes Bay woman faces a jail term for taking to her son with a wooden spoon and leaving him with 4cm welts - a case being heralded as proof that the law forbidding assaults on children works.

The Flaxmere woman pleaded guilty in the Hastings District Court last week to assaulting her 7-year-old son.

The boy described his state after the beating as "sad, angry and unhappy".

He has been removed from the home, though the mother is trying to regain custody.

She will be sentenced in the Napier District Court on May 3.

Last November, she became angry with her son because he was taking too long to get ready for tee-ball. She started yelling and swearing and belted him on his palms and the insides of his arms with the spoon until his father intervened.

The boy showed his teacher the following Monday and the teacher alerted Child, Youth and Family.

He was taken to hospital where his bruising was checked. The mother later told police she had taken on too much and realised she needed help.

The case became a political football this week when National MP Chester Borrows hailed it as showing that the Crimes Act - and section 59 which permits reasonable force in the right circumstances - rightfully caught out parents who assaulted their children.

But Green MP Sue Bradford, who is trying to amend the act, said she never held the position that the present law failed in every case.

"There are cases where section 59 is used successfully, and I'm pleased it was in this case, but I have a fundamental objection to the fact that the defence of using reasonable force exists at all."

Her bill would remove the legal defence for using reasonable force against children for correction, but allow its use to restrain a child.