The Swedish Myth: The Corporal Punishment Ban and Child Death Statistics

Abstract

Sweden is widely believed to have an exceptionally low incidence of child maltreatment deaths. Since Sweden is also the first country to have outlawed all forms of corporal punishment, proponents of a total ban on corporal punishment, in the UK and elsewhere, have argued that this demonstrates that such a ban prevents fatal child abuse. While not taking sides on the corporal punishment issue, this paper demonstrates that the argument is misleading on several counts. The available evidence suggests that Sweden has a low, though not uniquely low, incidence of child maltreatment deaths. Widely cited statistics suggesting that Sweden is an entirely different league from other countries are, however, seriously misleading. Nor does the evidence really allow us to conclude that Sweden's relative success in this area is attributable to the ban on corporal punishment. Other countries without a corporal punishment ban also have low or lower child maltreatment death rates, the figures that are commonly cited in any case predate Sweden's corporal punishment ban and there are a number of other important variables, other than a ban on corporal punishment, that could account for international variations. The article concludes with some thoughts about the selective use of evidence in debates of this kind.

The Cycle of Violence: Examining Attitudes Toward and Experiences of Corporal Punishment in a Representative German Sample

“…Therefore, an intensive information campaign might be useful to reduce the rate of people endorsing CP, which is in line with recommendations of Bussmann and colleagues (2011). On the contrary, some studies report a decline in violent child rearing, even though CP has not been banned, leading to a discussion about the effectiveness of a legal ban (Beckett, 2005; Larzelere & Johnson, 1999; Roberts, 2000). However, results of comparative studies indicate that legislation may affect the use of CP as approval of CP and knowledge about the legal status were the strongest predictors for the use of CP (Bussmann et al, 2011).…”

The McDonaldization of Childhood: Children’s Mental Health in Neo-liberal Market Cultures

“…In recent years, advocates of this 'children's rights' movement have focused on trying to get governments to outlaw the physical punishment of children, often citing Sweden as a positive example. Yet an examination of morbidity and mortality figures shows Swedish children to be somewhere in the middle-range for rich countries (Beckett, 2005). For example, rates of death from child maltreatment in Sweden at 0.6 per 100,000 children is much higher than countries who fare best in these tables, namely Spain (at 0.1) and Greece and Italy (at 0.2) (UNICEF, 2001), which have not outlawed corporal punishment (but which, interestingly, have family orientated cultures).…”

Physical punishment of children: Can we continue to accept the status quo?

“…Physical punishment, particularly harsh punishment, can lead to problems in the emotional and behavioural development of some children. While some argue that we are not in a position to pre‐suppose a clear causal link between physical punishment and adverse child outcomes, 12,13 more recent findings do suggest a causal link. Frequent use of corporal punishment in 3‐year‐olds, defined as spanking more than twice in the previous month, is associated with an increased risk for higher levels of aggression when the children were 5 years old, even after controlling for the level of aggression when the child was 3 14 .…”