1. Inappropriate Discipline Law & Research
Azad Hussain
The law to protect children from physical assault dates back to 1861 (Offences Against the Person Act 1861).

2. Definitions of Physical Abuse
A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child
Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.
HM Government (2015) Working together to safeguard children: a guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children (PDF). [London]: Department for Education (DfE).

3. Non-accidental Injuries are suspected when:
Injuries to both sides of the body
Injuries to soft tissue
Injuries with particular patterns
An injury that doesn’t fit the explanation given
Delays in presentation
Untreated injuries
Bruising on pre mobile babies

4. Possible indicators of Physical Abuse
Physical Indicators
Behavioural Indicators
Unexplained injuries
Reluctant for parents to be contacted
Untreated injuries
Aggressive behaviour and temper
Injuries on parts of body where accidental injury is unlikely
Child who shows fear of going home or runs away
Hand or finger marked bruising; cigarette burn or bite marks
Child flinches when approached/touched
Scalds, esp. with upward splash marks, or rings where made to sit or stand in very hot water
Reluctance to get undressed for sporting activities
Broken bones (esp. in under 2s)
Covering arms/legs even when hot
Depression
Overly compliant to parents/carers

5. Section 58 of the Children Act 2004 - Reasonable punishment
In relation to any offence specified in subsection (2), battery of a child cannot be justified on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.
(2) The offences referred to in subsection (1) are—
(a) an offence under section 18 or 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (c. 100) (wounding and causing grievous bodily harm);
(b) an offence under section 47 of that Act (assault occasioning actual bodily harm);
(c) an offence under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (c. 12) (cruelty to persons under 16).
(3) Battery of a child causing actual bodily harm to the child cannot be justified in any civil proceedings on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.
It is neither correct nor incorrect to say that “smacking is legal”. Assault is a criminal offence. But a parent who is prosecuted for common assault after smacking a child can raise the defence of reasonable punishment. With this in mind, charging parents with common assault because they smacked their children, and prosecuting them, will rarely meet the necessary tests for prosecution: the evidential test (a conviction will be unlikely because of the availability of the defence) and the public interest test. Therefore the police and CPS will not take action in every case of smacking, even though the offence of common assault has been committed. They have discretion to deal with cases where children have come to harm, where the injury is likely to be severe enough to warrant a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and where the defence of reasonable punishment is not available. In dealing with suspected or likely harm to children, the police will be considering the way forward jointly with children’s social care as part of child protection procedures.

6. ASSAULT
“Any intentional act or reckless act which cause a person to apprehend immediate unlawful force or personal violence”
“a physical attack”
Common assault
Actual Bodily Harm (ABH)
Grevious Bodily Harm (GBH)
Smacking or otherwise physically chastising a child is an assault.

7. IT IS ILLEGAL TO HIT A CHILD – a defence of “reasonable punishment” exists when charged with common assault.
There is no defence of reasonable punishment for acts of GBH, ABH and CRUELTY.

8. Criminal offences are committed when there are injuries such as
Grazes
Scratches
Minor bruising
Swelling and reddening of the skin
The use of implements (belts, slippers, canes, belt), strikes to the head/face, multiple strikes are NOT considered reasonable.

9. The harmful impact of physical punishment
Even the mildest smack sends children the message that hitting people is acceptable behaviour. It teaches children to be submissive, fearful, and/or aggressive.
Research shows that escalation from mild smacking to serious assaults is an inherent (albeit not inevitable) feature of physical punishment.
It can be confusing for children when a parent, the person they depend on and love the most, hurts them in some way.
In some cultures physical discipline is acceptable and therefore is a need to help parents to break the pattern of their learned behaviour of child rearing in order to develop healthy relationships.

10. The attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours that grow out of physical abuse can cause a child to have problems at school, at home, and with friends.
Being hit may make children feel angry, helpless, powerless, hostile, guilty, or ashamed. It may result in their becoming chronically anxious or depressed. All these negative feelings about themselves increase children’s stress levels and only make it harder for them to behave well.
Physical punishment invades children's physical integrity, making it a potential pathway to sexual abuse.
Other risk factors like DV. MH and SM