Discipline or punishment: a conference review.

• Author: Roguski, Mike

The "Stop It, It Hurts Me" national seminar was held in Wellington over 18-19 June 2004. The seminar was organised by the Children's Issues Centre of Otago University in association with the Office of the Commissioner for Children.

Interest in the seminar had gathered momentum through the recent release of the Children's Issues Centre review of literature The Discipline and Guidance of Children: A Summary of Research (Smith et al. 2004). The release was met with protest from supporters of the parent's right to use physical discipline (e.g. Watkins 2004a, 2004b). Interest in the discipline and punishment of children has gathered through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC), (1) Watson's (2003) identification of homicide as the third leading cause of death for those aged 0-14 in New Zealand (cited in Smith et al. 2004), (2) and UNICEF's report A League Table of Child Maltreatment Deaths in Rich Nations (UNICEF 2003), in which New Zealand ranked third highest in levels of child abuse. (3)

Primary conference messages were provided by two keynote addresses. Professor Anne Smith's review of discipline and punishment literature demonstrated that physical punishment is ineffective and had negative psychosocial effects. (4) Professor Joan Durrant promoted Sweden's anti-punishment legislation and child-centred polices as a possible model for New Zealand. After summarising these key messages, I will explore some of their implications for social policy in New Zealand, and where to from here.

KEY MESSAGES

There is little evidence to support physical punishment as an effective or useful parenting tool, the only gain being a child's immediate compliance. Further, physical punishment was purported to inhibit the internalisation of moral development. This reflects Vygotsky's (1978) position that physical punishment may legitimise violence for children in interpersonal relationships because they internalise the social relations they experience (cited in Smith et al. 2004). Smith et al.'s review of the literature (2004) outlines a range of negative associations with physical punishment: decreased, insecure and poor parent-child attachment; negative outcomes in social behaviour, including behaviour problems in school, lack of acceptance by peers, crime and delinquency; impaired cognitive and intellectual development; and a range of mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression.

The injurious nature of physical punishment was reiterated and reframed as assault. (5) Further, conference presenters repeatedly called for changes to the status quo, specifically, for New Zealand to repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961.

The repeal of section 59 was seen by conference presenters and workshop attendees as a necessary step to support changes in societal perception. As it stands, section...