Policing the Punishment: Charging Practices Under Canada's Corporal Punishment Laws
| Published date | 01 May 2005 |
| Author | Tammy C. Landau |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800501200202 |
| Date | 01 May 2005 |
International
Review
ofVictimology,
2005,
Vol.12,
pp.121-138
0269-7580/05
$10
© A B
Academic
Publishers
-Printed
in
Great
Britain
POLICING
THE
PUNISHMENT:
CHARGING
PRACTICES
UNDER
CANADA'S
CORPORAL
PUNISHMENT
LAWS
TAMMY
C.
LANDAU*
Ryerson
University,
Canada
ABSTRACT
Canadian
data
show
that
children
and
youth
experience
high
degrees
of
violence
in
their
lives.
A
significant
degree
of
this
violence
occurs
within
the
family,
and
can
be
attributed
to
excesive
'correction'
or
physical
discipline.
Indeed,
section
43 of
the
Canadian
Criminal
Code
permits
the
use
of
'reasonable'
force
for
the
purposes
of
correction.
This
paper
presents
data
on
police
response
to
allegations
of
excessive
or
illegal
corporal
punishment
under
current
Canadian
legislation.
As
the
gatekeepers
to
the
courts,
the
police
act
as
the
social,
legal
and
moral
guardians
of
the
use
of
corporal
punishment
in
Canada.
The
findings
suggest
that
there
is
significant
variation
in
police
response
both
to
the
range
and
seriousness
of
incidents
of
corporal
punishment.
Much
of
this
can
be
attributed
to
the
normal
exercise
of
police
discretion.
However,
the
breadth
and
lack
of
clarity
in
the
law
itself
is
an
additional,
problematic
source
of
uncertainty
and
undermines
attempts
to
reduce
violence
in
the
lives
of
children.
INTRODUCTION
The
last
15
years
in
Canada
have
witnessed
the
emergence
of a discourse
on
youth
and
violence.
Most
of
the
focus
is
on
youth
as
perpetrators,
and
has
resulted
in a
range
of 'get tough'
approaches
to
young
people.
For
example,
'bullying'
at
school
has
resulted
in
the
nationwide
implementation
of 'zero
tolerance'
policies
for
violence
and
other
forms
of
aggression
on
school
property.
In
addition,
concern
over
perceived
increases
in
youth
crime
contributed
to
recent
changes
to
Canadian
legislation
dealing
with
young
people
in
conflict
with
the
law.
Canadian
data
show
that
children
and
youth
experience
high
degrees
of
violence
in their
lives.
For
example,
based
on
incidents
reported
to
the
police in
1999,
children
and
youth
under
18
years
of
age
were
the
victims
of
24%
of all
assaults
in
Canada:
*
School
of
Criminal
Justice,
Ryerson
University,
350
Victoria
Street,
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada,
M5B2K3.
122
[Those
under
18
years
of
age]
represented
a
disproportionately
high
ma-
jority of
all
sexual
assault
victims
(60%
),
and
one-fifth
of physical assault
victims.
It
should
be
noted,
however,
that
in
actual
numbers,
there
were
almost
three
times
as
many
physical
assaults
against
children
and
youth
as
sexual
assaults
due
to
the
higher
prevalence
of
physical
assaults
overall
(Locke,
2000:
p.
31).
Children
were
victimized
by
family
members
in
30%
of
sexual
assault
cases,
and
by
family
members
in
22%
of
physical
assault
cases.
The
perpetrators of
violence
within
the
family
are
overwhelmingly
the
parents
of
the
victims:
66%
of child
victims
of
physical
assault
and
42%
of
child
victims
of
sexual
assault
were
victimized
by
their
parents.
The
complexities
of child
abuse
in
Canada
are
complicated
somewhat
by
the
thin
legal
line
between
assaulting
children
and
'correcting'
them
through
the
use
of corporal
punishment.
The
statistics
presented
above
provide
little
data
on
the
social context
in
which
abusive
or
assault
behaviour
occurs.
For
example,
disciplinary
or
'corrective'
action
on
the
part of
parents
is
often
at
the
core of
child
abuse
cases
(Trocme
et
al.,
2001),
a
fact
which
is
obscured
by
aggregate
data.
Indeed,
Durrant
(1996)
concludes
that
'physical
punishment
is
responsible
for
the
majority
of
child
abuse
cases
as
parents
who
set
out
to
discipline a
child
lose
control of their
anger
or
underestimate
their strength'
(p.
107).
The
relationship
between
child
abuse
and
corporal
punishment
notwithstand-
ing,
Canada
permits
the
use
of
physical
discipline
of children
by
parents
or
other
guardians.
Indeed,
there
is
both
legal
and
social
support
for
corporal
punishment
of
children:
the
Criminal
Code
of
Canada
permits
the
'reasonable'
use
of
force
against
children
for
the
purposes
of
correction
and,
according
to
Durrant
(1996),
corporal
punishment
is
the
most
common
form
of
discipline
in
Canada,
used
by
75%
of
parents.
Nevertheless,
the
status
of corporal
punishment
has
recently
been
challenged
in
the
Canadian
courts
(Canadian
Foundation
for
Children,
Youth
and
the
Law
vs.
The
Attorney
General
in
Right
of
Canada,
2004
SCC
4).
Children's
rights
advocates
have
squared
off
against
a
range
of interest
groups
(including
teachers'
federations,
police
associations
and
family
values
groups)
over
the
legal,
social
and
moral
acceptability of a
form
of
punishment
which
is
treated
as
assault
when
directed
against
any
other
person
except a
child.
While
the
precise definitions
and
boundaries
for
the
use
of
corporal
punishment
might
be
contested,
there
is
agreement
that corporal
punishment
must
be
policed
and,
in
some
cases,
would
require
criminal justice
intervention.
This
paper presents data
on
police
responses
to
allegations
of excessive or
illegal corporal
punishment
under current
Canadian
legislation.
As
the
gate-
keepers
to
the
courts,
the
police
act
as
the
social,
legal
and
moral
guardians
of
the
use
of corporal
punishment
in
Canada.
The
data
suggest
that
there
is
significant
variation
in
police
responses
to
both
the
range
and
seriousness of
incidents
of corporal
punishment.
Much
of
this
situation
can
be
attributed
to
the
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