Petition Ban the Smacking of Children

The permitting of violence by parents against their parents contravenes the basic principle that initiating force against another = assault. Children are not the personal property of their parents, but human beings in their own right who made no choice to be here,

Discipline has so often been a smokescreen for abuse and allowed generations of sadists and abusers to escape justice and the consequences of their actions. Allowing parents to use violence of any form against their children acts as a figleaf for endemic abuse and should not be permitted by the state.

Striking another human being, unless in an act of self-defence, is assault and should be punishable by law. It's as simple and as complicated as that.