A guide to physical punishment


An assault is:
The use of force against someone is not always an 'assault':
Cruelty to children:
Can I be hit by teachers and school staff?
Can the Police hit me for something I did wrong?
What if I'm being assaulted at school?
How else can the law help me?
Hitting People Is Wrong!

This is one of the basic rules of society. In legal terms violent behaviour is an assault. Any physical force used intentionally against someone is an assault. This includes causing harm to a person by:

• Punching or slapping with a hand or fist;
• Pushing, pulling, or grabbing a person by their clothes;
• Hitting with a stick, cane, jamspoon, paddle, baseball bat or other object;
• Throwing anything at someone e.g a plate, book, piece of chalk or water etc;
• Deliberately causing physical pain with a knife or sharp object, lighted cigarette, electric charge or zapper;
• Spitting at someone.
• Threatening to do any of the above is also an assault if the person threatened believes on reasonable grounds that the threat may be carried out.

An assault is: - a crime:

It is illegal to assault anyone and can be punished by a fine and / or imprisonment and / or ordered to pay 'reparations' (money) to the person they hurt. - a civil wrong:

Twenty years ago anyone who had been assaulted could sue the aggressor claiming damages for the assault and any injury suffered.
Under New Zealand's Accident Compensation scheme the victim of assault usually cannot claim damages but can make a claim for loss of earnings, or an Independence Allowance for any permanent injury which is not trivial. You can also claim some or all of the cost of medical treatment you need to receive as a result of being hit.

The use of force against someone is not always an 'assault':

Consent

You can agree to have your hair cut or your teeth seen to. If you are mature enough to understand what is involved you can agree to have your ears pierced or your body tattooed. However, if you did not agree to have these things done the person doing them could be guilty of assaulting you.

If you play sport, it is thought you have agreed to the bodily contact that is part of that sport.

Self defence or reasonable restraint to avoid injury

You can use reasonable force to protect yourself against an attack. But only as much as is needed for self-protection. You can use reasonable force to stop someone from committing suicide, or doing serious injury to themselves or someone else. You can also be physically stopped from doing serious damage to property.

Can Parents, Guardians, Caregivers use force to discipline their children?

No - the law was recently amended. Parents, guardians and caregivers or persons in the place of parentsare no longer entitled to claim a defence of "reasonable force" to justify the use of forceto discipline or correcttheir children.The law states that "reasonable force" can only be used against a child to:

• prevent or minimise harm to that child or another person
• prevent the child from engaging in conduct or continuing to engage in conduct that amounts to a criminal offence
• prevent the child from engaging in offensive or disruptive behaviour
• perform the normal tasks incidental to good parenting

The law also spells out that the Police have the discretion not to prosecute a parent if they consider that the force used was so "inconsequential" that bringing charges would be against the public interest.


Cruelty to children:

Where a parent or caregiver is violent to a child under 16 and causes 'unnecessary suffering, actual bodily harm or injury to health', the parent or caregiver could be prosecuted and imprisoned for up to five years.

The following people are also not allowed to hit children:

• Brothers and sisters (unless the child is being brought up by an adult brother or sister);
• Other relatives (unless living with the child or staying for a long time);
• Staff in boarding schools, hostels, hospitals or residential homes;
• Short term foster parents or Family Home house parents. It is Social Welfare policy that foster parents and house parents should not use physical punishment;
• Youth group leaders, sports club coaches, park keepers, swimming pool attendants, holiday programme organisers etc. Can I be hit by teachers and school staff? No. A law passed in 1990 made it illegal for teachers to strap, cane or otherwise hit children (known as corporal punishment).

A teacher or staff member cannot:

• Cane or strap you;
• Order another student to hit you.
• Push or pull you or grab you by the clothes;
• Throw things at you;
• Threaten you so that you fear for your safety;
• Get your parents to come to school to hit you for what you have done at school;

A teacher can use reasonable force to stop you from:

• Assaulting a teacher or another student;
• Causing yourself, or another student physical injury;
• Causing serious damage to school property or the property of other students;

The can also use reasonable force to protect themselves if they fear for their own safety. In most of these situations though the teacher should not need to do much more than grab hold of you to stop you doing something.

Can the Police hit me for something I did wrong?

NO - This is illegal. The Police can:

• Use reasonable force to arrest you
• Use reasonable force to take your photograph, fingerprints, palm prints and footprints if you're in their lawful custody on a charge
• Use reasonable force to search you and remove all money and property found on you if you're in lawful custody and are going to be locked up
• If you're under 17, use reasonable force to return you if you have absconded from aChild, Youth and Family('CYF') residence or placement CYF have put you into, if a search warrant has been granted by the court.
• If you're under 17, use reasonable force to detain you if they believe on reasonable grounds that it is critically necessary to protect you from injury or death.
• If you're under 16, use reasonable force to pick you up (Family Proceedings Act) and the court has granted a warrant to prevent you from being removed from New Zealand
• Use reasonable force to help a doctor take a blood sample from you if a court has made an order compelling you to give blood under the Criminal Investigations (Blood Samples) Act 1995 and you refuse.
• Use reasonable force to take you home (or if you don't want to go home to a Social Welfare home) if you are under 17 and in a public place with no caregiver and are drunk, high or at risk of being harmed or harming someone.
• Use reasonable force to take you home, to a detox centre, or temporary shelter or police station (to be held for up to 12 hours) if you are found to be drunk or high in a public place
• Use force that is in proportion to the danger likely to result from a riot, to stop a riot.
• Use reasonable force to carry out certain actions under the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992.

What if I am being assaulted at school

Legally the staff and Board of Trustees of your school have to do everything they can to keep you safe.
If you are assaulted at school, they have a duty to deal with it.

If you are assaulted by another student:

• Tell the principal, deputy principal, or duty teacher.
• If the first person you told wasn't the principal, and nothing's done, tell the principal
• If the situation still isn't dealt with, complain in writing to the Board of Trustees. Give as much detail as you can both about the assault, and the staff's failure to deal with it. Ask to speak to the Board, and take a support person. YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki in Auckland or your local Community Law Centre may be available.
• If bullying continues, call the Police. Also notify the Education Review Office (phone (09) 377 1331, or see the phone book for your local office) or the Commissioner for Children (phone (04) 471 1410) about the school's failure to act.

If you are assaulted by a teacher or an employee of the school other than the principal:

Tell the principal.

• As soon as possible follow this up with a written complaint addressed to both the principal and the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees.
• Ask to speak to the Board, and take a support person. YouthLaw Tino Rangatiratanga Taitamariki staff are usually available in Auckland. Otherwise your local Community Law Centre may be able to help.
• You can make an assault complaint to the Police.
• Sometimes people who are not trained and registered are employed as teachers. This can be illegal, and puts students at risk of abuse. You can check if someone is a registered teacher by calling the Teacher RegistrationCouncil on (04) 471 0852.
• Also complain to the Education Review Office or the Commissioner for Children if the school fails to act.
• Ask the school Board to notify the Teacher Registration Board of your complaint. If they don't, then notify the Registration Board yourself. They can discipline or even strike off teachers.

If you assaulted by the principal, make a written complaint directly to the Board of Trustees, and then follow steps 3 to 7 as set out above.

How else can the law help me?

Get a Protection Order

If a parent, stepparent, caregiver or family member has hit or injured you or is threatening you, the Family Court can make a 'Protection Order' to protect you. If you are under 17 and haven't been married an adult will have to make the application for you. The order will make it unlawful for the person named in the order to threaten or abuse you, follow you, make persistent telephone calls to you, etc.

If the person hits or threatens violence against you or does anything the order says they are not allowed to do, the police can arrest them, hold them and charge them.
For more information see our information sheet, 'Domestic Violence and Young People'.

Use the Child, Youth and Family
Call Centre 0800 326 459

If you fear violence or abusive behaviour from a parent or caregiver, you can contact any CYF office and ask for the Duty Social Worker.

It can help to get a trusted adult to help you do this. If they consider that there is a problem and you are in danger then they should call a Family Group Conference so that the problem can be discussed and your family can be given help (e.g counselling) to overcome the problem.

If it is not possible to sort the situation out through a Family Group ConferenceCYF can apply to the court for an order that says that you are in need of 'care and protection'. WhenCYF apply for that order they can then (or later on) make an application for a restraining order.

This could mean that the parent or caregiver who has hit or hassled you must leave home and live elsewhere, and/or not hit you, threaten you or watch or follow you to school, etc.

If you are being abused there are lots of people who can help you make it stop.

Phone Youthline (09) 376 6645 or YouthLaw (09) 309 6967 for more numbers. Some of these numbers are listed below.

For more information on how you can legally be protected from abuse and violence see YouthLaw's publication 'Leave Me Alone! - at Home'. There are phone numbers for organisations who can help at the back of that book also.

Police - In all emergencies phone the Police on 111

Sexual Abuse HELP -24 hrs rape and sexual abuse support.
Auckland (09) 623 1700
Hauraki / Paeroa (07) 862 6134
Tauranga (07) 578 8227
Wellington (04) 801 8176

Saftinet / Domestic Violence Centre - 24 hr crisis line 0508 384 357 or(09) 303 3939

Rape Crisis and Womens Refuge - the phone numbers for your area are in your phone book.