Original ArticlesEvaluating the success of sweden’s corporal punishment ban☆
Introduction
IN 1979, SWEDEN became the first nation to abolish all types of corporal punishment of children by all caretakers. This law represents the end of a series of legislative reforms spanning 50 years which were aimed at making the rejection of corporal punishment increasingly explicit in law. While the history of this law has been described in detail elsewhere Durrant 1996, Durrant and Olsen 1997, Newell 1989, Ziegert 1983, Ziegert 1987, it will be summarized here to provide a context for the analyses to follow.
Section snippets
History of the swedish corporal punishment Ban
At the beginning of the twentieth century, severe corporal punishment was common in Sweden (Sverne, 1993). However, concerns about the welfare of children began to be expressed early in the century (see Durrant & Olsen, 1997); the first legislative reform took place in 1928 when corporal punishment was abolished from Swedish secondary schools (gymnasiums).
Continued concern about the levels of violence directed toward children during the ensuing decades led to the repeal in 1957 of the Penal
Purpose
Given the international significance of the Swedish corporal punishment ban, it is surprising that no systematic studies have been conducted to evaluate social changes following its passage. The primary purpose of the present study is to examine such trends in an attempt to determine whether the goals of the Children’s Rights Commission have been met, that is, whether attitudes have shifted, early identification has increased, and intervention has become less intrusive.
Public attitudes toward corporal punishment
Given the evolutionary
Data collection
The research findings presented here are based on data collected by three methods. First, a series of interviews was conducted in Sweden to provide an understanding of the history and implementation of the corporal punishment ban. The individuals interviewed included: (1) the former Chair and a former member of the Children’s Rights Commission which proposed the ban; (2) the Administrative Director of and the Legal Advisor to the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman; (3) two prosecuting attorneys
Public attitudes toward corporal punishment
National opinion polls have been conducted intermittently in Sweden since the mid-1960s by the Swedish Opinion Research Institute (Svenska Institutet för Opinionsundersökningar: SIFO) and SCB to chart trends in support for corporal punishment. As Table 1 indicates, support for corporal punishment has declined markedly over the past 30 years (n = 2, t = 2, p = .0000; range = 11% to 53%, M = 33.4%). While in 1965, 8 years after the repeal of the Criminal Code defence, one-half of the Swedish
Identification: reporting of assaults against children
Data are available on the rate of assaults against children that were reported to the police (crimes) between 1981 and 1996, as well as on the proportion of children who were allegedly assaulted (cases) between 1984 and 1996 BRÅ 1997, SCB 1995a. It should be noted that any reports that are made to the police must be recorded in the official statistics; the police have no discretionary power to not register reported crimes, no matter how minor. Also, these figures include not only alleged
Child physical abuse
Clearly, reporting rates are not equivalent to rates of actual assaults against children. As public awareness of child physical abuse increases, reporting rates will increase accordingly—even if rates of actual abuse remain steady or decline. Therefore, additional measures are needed to determine whether the recent trends in reporting rates reflect increased public awareness of the problem or actual increases in child physical assault.
Although the actual child physical abuse rate can never be
Intervention: criminal prosecution
Prior to 1982, in the case of petty or common assaults committed on private property, legal proceedings could only be initiated by the victim or the victim’s caretaker. (The prosecutor had the power to prosecute in the case of serious assaults.) Thus, the prosecutor could not proceed without the victim’s consent, which had to be explicitly given to the police investigator. Since 1982, the prosecutor has been obliged to prosecute where there is sufficient evidence to proceed.
Numbers of children receiving support and care measures
Two indicators can be examined of the numbers of children receiving support and care measures in a given year: (1) the number of children subject to measures at any time during that year, that is, all those still receiving measures first implemented in previous years plus all those who received measures for the first time during that year; and (2) the number of children who first received measures in that year (“debutants”—these children were not subject to measures within the previous 5 years).
Discussion
The primary purpose of the present study was to examine trends in social variables relevant to the 1979 Swedish corporal punishment ban. The goals of the ban were to: (1) reduce public support for corporal punishment; (2) encourage earlier identification of children at risk for physical abuse; and (3) facilitate earlier, more supportive intervention. Data collected from a range of official sources indicate that these objectives are being met.
Conclusion
It is important to note that direct causal relationships between the passage of the corporal punishment ban and the trends reported here cannot be drawn. Many social changes have occurred in Sweden over the past 25 years, including ongoing legislative reform, demographic shifts, and modifications to social policies. These forces have likely interacted with the attitudinal shifts engendered by the corporal punishment ban to produce the trends reported here. However direct or indirect the route
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Johan Bergqvist, Gunilla Bodin, Ingela Bylon, Åke Edfeldt, Simone Ek, Barbro Hindberg, Anna Hollander, Tora Holst, Gunnel Linde, Agneta Lindelöf, Yvonne Lönn, Bodil Långberg, Inger Malmström, Gregg Olsen, Annika Oster, Solveig Riberdahl, Tor Sverne, and Hanns von Hofer; Anders Broberg, Karin Lundén, Inger Malmström, and Monika Olsson for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. A particular debt of gratitude is owed to Monika Olsson who donated a
References (74)
- et al.
Intra- and extrafamilial child homicide in Sweden 1971–1980
Child Abuse & Neglect
(1991) Child abuseMeasuring a global problem
World Health Statistics Quarterly
(1993)- BRÅ. (1998). Unpublished 1996...
Kriminalstatistik, 1995. BRÅ Rapport 1997:5
(1997)Kriminalstatistik, 1994. BRÅ Rapport 1996:4
(1996)Kriminalstatistik, 1993. BRÅ Rapport 1994:4
(1994)- Conover, W. J. (1980). Practical nonparametric statistics (2nd ed.). New York:...
- Durrant, J. E. (1996). The Swedish corporal punishment ban: Its history and effects. In D. Frehsee, & K.-D. Bussman...
- et al.
Parenting and public policyContextualizing the Swedish corporal punishment ban
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law
(1997) - Durrant, J. E., Broberg, A. G., & Rose-Krasnor, L. (in press). Predicting use of physical punishment during...
Conflict and control in welfare policyThe Swedish experience
Youth and violence in Europe
Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention
Can you bring up children successfully without smacking and spanking?
Children are people tooThe case against physical punishment
Re-modeling SwedenThe rise and demise of the compromise in a global economy
Social Problems
Reaction to crimes committed by young people
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1974
Dödsorsaker 1975
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1975
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1976
Dödsorsaker 1976
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1977
Dödsorsaker 1977
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1978
Dödsorsaker 1978
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1979
Dödsorsaker 1979
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1980
Dödsorsaker 1980
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1981
Dödsorsaker 1981
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1982
Dödsorsaker 1982
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1983
Dödsorsaker 1983
Rättsstatistisk Årsbok 1984
Cited by (118)
Corporal punishment of children in Australia: The evidence-based case for legislative reform
2023, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public HealthPublic policy and parent-child aggression: Considerations for reducing and preventing physical punishment and abuse
2022, Aggression and Violent BehaviorCorporal punishment and reporting to child protection authorities: An empirical study of population attitudes in five European countries
2021, Children and Youth Services ReviewCitation Excerpt :The authors found a correlation between the introduction of the ban, the punishment of parents suspected of breaking the ban, and supporting programs for families and parents using alternative disciplining methods while rearing children. In countries such as Finland, Sweden and Norway, which introduced a CP ban in 1983, 1979 and 1987 respectively, the ban was implemented concurrently with non-punitive programs supporting parenting (Bell & Romano, 2012; Durrant, 1999; Gershoff, Lee, & Durrant, 2017; Zolotor & Puzia, 2010). Zolotor and Puzia (2010) found that attitudes, behaviors and reporting willingness are more positive in these countries compared to other countries where legislation has a more punitive character (cf. also Bussmann et al., 2009).
Public perceptions of child maltreatment in Singapore: Differences between 1994 and 2010
2019, Children and Youth Services ReviewSpanking and young children's socioemotional development in low- and middle-income countries
2019, Child Abuse and NeglectCitation Excerpt :Although it is important to conduct further research to replicate the results of the current study, and to examine other health and mental health consequences of exposure to spanking using international samples, the results of this study suggest that bans on the use of corporal punishment would benefit child well-being broadly. Research has shown some empirical support that bans on corporal punishment are correlated with reductions in caregivers’ use of corporal punishment (Durrant, 1999; Lansford et al., 2017; Zolotor & Puzia, 2010). However, further research is needed to more rigorously examine whether such bans are responsible for causing changes in caregivers’ behaviors (Zolotor & Puzia, 2010).
Change over time in parents’ beliefs about and reported use of corporal punishment in eight countries with and without legal bans
2017, Child Abuse and NeglectCitation Excerpt :The most systematic investigations of corporal punishment bans have been conducted in Sweden, the first country to outlaw corporal punishment (e.g., Durrant, 1999; Edfeldt, 1996; Janson, Långberg, & Svensson, 2011).
- ☆
The data collection for this study was partially supported by the University of Manitoba Research Grants Committee.