Sweden's smacking ban isn't working

1 November 2001

There has been a major increase in the rate of child abuse in Sweden since all forms of physical correction were banned in 1979, according to a paper published today by family advocacy group, Families First.

The author, Dr Robert Larzelere, of the University of Nebraska Medical Center highlights data which shows a 489% increase in physical child abuse cases classified as criminal assaults in Sweden between 1981 and 1994. Dr Larzelere also notes that while the number of assaults on children under the age of 7 remained low and relatively stable, "perpetration of criminal assaults against 7-14 year-olds is increasing most rapidly among those who were brought up after the law against smacking was passed."

The publication of these findings will come as a blow to anti-smacking campaigners in Britain who frequently hail Sweden's ban on smacking as an unqualified success. Last year, for example, Save the Children published a paper by Canadian researcher Joan Durrant, which presented the Swedish legislation in a glowing light and recommended it as a model to other nations throughout the world.

However, Dr Larzelere believes that a careful review of Durrant's findings reveals that her conclusions reflect her "unconditional commitment to an anti-smacking perspective more than an objective appraisal of the data available from her sources." He concludes that there is a need for "timely, rigorous and unbiased evaluations" of the impact of the 1979 anti-smacking law. Contrary to the claims of the various 'children's rights' groups, the data does not provide any basis for viewing Sweden's legislation as worthy of emulation. In fact, the evidence available so far is pointing in the opposite direction.

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