Andrew Dickens Afternoons

It’s been over a decade since the anti-smacking legislation came into force, removing the reasonable force defence to parents prosecuted for assaulting their children. Now new research out of Canada suggests that young people are less likely to resort to violence in countries where there is a full smacking ban.Yes, I know as soon as many of you hear “new research” you may be inclined to stick your fingers in your ears and go, “blah blah blah”.But I would be interested to know how much our attitudes have changed over time and whether the passage of time or evidence, such as that presented by this research, has any impact on people's views on the smacking legislationI confess that when the smacking law was being debated I was against it. Perhaps because of my own conservative instincts and a fear of injustice.Possibly I also rebelled against the language used by the chief proponent of the Bill Sue Bradford, who insisted on framing it as a battle between supporters of the legislation, and those parents who wante