the Report, ”Illegal but not punishable” has, among other things, reviewed judgments in which parents exposed their children to violence. It shows that there is a gap between the prohibition against corporal punishment in the parental code and the provisions of the penal code. This means that the prohibition against corporal punishment include more forms of violence than what is counted as assault in the criminal code. Violence is, therefore, illegal, but not always punishable.
– There are examples where parents have been sentenced but then there have been about physical abuse. There has been evidence in the form of bruising, redness, or similar. We want to lift the cases that fall outside. When, for example, it is about psychological abuse such as when children witness violence in the home, ” says Christina Evening, chief legal counsel at Unicef.
resulted in visible physical injury can, according to the report, result in a mitigating punishment. It can involve, for example, moves in the ear, daskningar against the back of the head, or the like.
An extract from a judgment that is presented in the report:
”A mother is prosecuted for assault then she uppfostringssyfte hit their nine-year-old son with a spatula of wood which caused the pain, redness and a bruise. The supreme court says in his guiding them to true, it is not permissible to use spanking as uppfostringsmetod, but still think that the beating should be considered as a call. HD also explains the mother’s behavior that she took to violence in a for her stressful situation, when she was ill and concerned for their continued employment’”.
The latest national survey from the foundation for Swedish children’s welfare foundation, shows that 36 percent of the surveyed children say they have been victims of any form of ill-treatment by their parents during childhood. The children who participated in the survey was in grade nine, or the second year of high school. But according to Christina Evening, there may be a number of unreported cases of children who are abused by their parents.
– Even if it is 36 per cent of the surveyed children say they have been victims of violence, there are a number of small children or children with disabilities. Where we do not have any statistics, ” she says.
in the court but also in the social services investigations are frequently based on a on the scope and nature, according to Unicef. It means according to Christina Evening that the parents be excused for their behavior to the situation they have found themselves in at that moment been stressed or that the child has been demanding.
” We don’t want more parents to end up in prison, it is not the aim, but we want to highlight the rights of children. This could also lead to support and the different actions for the families.
” We want it to be a special provision in the penal code which will be called ill-treatment against children, just as there is a provision on rape against children, says Christina Evening.
