No More Spanking in California

I ran across a very interesting article on the front page of the paper today that you Sacramento folk may have read already. There is legislation being discussed that could BAN spanking of anykids over the age of 4 in California. Here are the highlights from Sacbee.com:

"Spank your child, go to jail?

California would become the first state to explicitly ban spanking for children younger than 4 under legislation to be introduced next week.

Slapping, smacking, whacking or kicking also would be outlawed.

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, a Mountain View Democrat who is crafting the measure, said corporal punishment victimizes helpless children and contributes to a society "addicted to violence."

"The only thing a child learns by being beaten is that it's OK to beat or dominate children or animals that are smaller," she said.

"To my mind, there's no amount of physical force that's appropriate on a child 3 years old or younger," Lieber said.

Critics blasted Lieber's proposal Thursday as silly and excessive, or "nanny government" that would step on parents' toes and force judges to decide whether a swat was a spank, a nudge, a push or a "love tap."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken no position on the measure, press secretary Aaron McLear said.

In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Schwarzenegger, who said that he and his wife "never" spank their four children, hinted that he has concerns about how the bill could be enforced. "Is it that when you see someone spank a kid, you go and say, 'Can I see the birth certificate of the kid?' "

But Schwarzenegger also said that he understands the desire to "get rid of the physical, the brutal behavior that some parents have."

Lieber said her measure would make spanking a misdemeanor, subject to a maximum one-year jail term and $1,000 fine.

But Thomas Nazario, a University of San Francisco Law School professor who has helped develop the bill, said the goal is to change behavior -- not incarcerate parents or remove children from homes.

"My guess is that people would get a citation," Nazario said. "They might go to court and, as a result of that citation, have to take a parenting class."

Lieber said passage of her bill could prompt a supermarket shopper, for example, to approach a fellow shopper who is spanking a child and warn, "That's against the law in California."

But Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness said such confrontations can be risky.

"I don't think that would necessarily be in the best interest of any of the parties," he said.

McGinness said that an anti-spanking law, if passed as a misdemeanor, could be enforced only by citizen's arrest or by a peace officer who witnessed the corporal punishment.

Critics said a spanking prohibition could spark a torrent of calls to overloaded law-enforcement and child protective agencies, but Lieber disagreed, saying problems didn't occur when corporal punishment was banned in schools.

For many years, the conventional wisdom in the early-childhood education community was that child spanking is unacceptable in all circumstances, said Kimberly Gordon Biddle, an associate professor of child development at California State University, Sacramento.

But during the past 10 years, research has indicated that a "light tap," accompanied by an explanation, can be effective in cases where toddlers are endangering themselves or others, she said."

I do agree with that Sheriff. Could you walk up to some random stranger and tell them to stop spanking a kid - even if it was a light tap? The adult could be crazy and it could start a fight right there in the market. Would this really stop abuse in the home, where nobody is looking. Child abuse is of course a horrible thing, but most abuse has to happen in the home and I believe that this will continue. I just think that the government is getting way to involved here. Do I condone spanking? No. But do I think they should pass this bill? Absolutely not. Stay away Big Brother. Thoughts???