SUBMISSION
To the to the Justice and Electoral Committee on the
Crimes
(Abolition of Force as a Justification for
Child Discipline) Amendment Bill
1.
This submission is from Stuart
Birks, Director, Centre for Public Policy Evaluation,
2.
The objective of the Centre for
Public Policy Evaluation is “To facilitate the achievement of excellence in
research in priority areas and to develop its domestic and international links.
The focus will be on economic aspects of policies in a multidisciplinary
context.” The work of the Centre
has included, among other things, research and publications in the areas of
family law and law and economics.
3.
I do not wish to appear before
the committee to speak to my submission.
4. The Explanatory Note for the Bill begins, “The purpose of this Bill is to stop force, and associated violence and harm under the pretence of domestic discipline, being inflicted on children.”
5.
While reference is made
to violence, the focus is on physical force. This is only one aspect of
violence as covered by the Domestic Violence Act 1995.
6. Ruth Busch, a noted researcher on domestic violence in New Zealand, is quoted in the December 2005 issue of Panui (see: http://www.mwa.govt.nz/news-and-pubs/publications/panui/dec2005.html#j1) Talking about protection orders, she says, "there seems to be a minimisation virtually of all breaches that involve psychological abuse and that's an irony because many women will tell you that the psychological abuse is much worse than the physical abuse that they are subjected to."
7. The Bill overlooks the problem that, as a consequence of the proposed legislative change, there is a very real danger of increasing the psychological abuse of children.
8. The quote also suggests another difficulty. Implementation of the policy may be imperfect. It is not clear that the proposed legislative change will work to reduce violence against children as anticipated. Implementation could be expensive, and the stresses on children of family disruption and legal action, along with the time delays, could outweigh the positive effects of the legislation.
9. While the intent of the Bill is commendable, more thought is required about the narrow focus and the method of implementation as a means of changing society’s attitudes and behaviour.
Recommendations
a)
That a wider concept of
child abuse be considered.
b)
That consideration be
given to alternative policy approaches with a focus on education and positive
parenting.
c)
That the proposed
legislative change not proceed.