Seventh review of police activity since enactment of the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007

This report details results from the 7th review of relevant Police activity since enactment of the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007. This review covers the period 23 December 2009 to 22 June 2010.

Monitoring initially took place for a two year period since enactment on 22nd June, 2007. 

In December 2009, the Prime Minister invited Police to continue monitoring for a further three years. This followed the review into the policies and procedures used by the New Zealand Police and Child, Youth and Family. Police was also invited to include data on cases in which a parent or caregiver said the force used on the child was reasonable in the circumstances.

Monitoring was originally undertaken so that Police could respond proactively to any issues which might arise following the enactment. It was also done to provide specific information on the number of calls to police about child assaults involving 'smacking' and 'minor acts of physical discipline'.

Summary

(i) Results for the seventh review are consistent with previous reviews.  

(ii) The third prosecution for a smacking event since June 2007 has occurred during this latest review period.

(iii) There is an increase in the number of events attended by police during this review period which is consistent with reduced tolerance and increased reporting of child assault events.

Methodology

The number of child assault events identified in each review period does not reflect the total number of child assault events attended by police during this time.  The events are those most likely to identify incidents which might involve 'smacking', as 'smacking' in itself is not a separate offence.  

Nine different offence codes were examined to identify such incidents.

The rationale used to allocate each event to a category of 'smacking', 'minor act of physical discipline', 'other child assault'  involved consideration of the:

• Actual physical action used in the child assault; and
  
• The context and the surrounding circumstances, as outlined in the practice guidelines.
  
  

Outcomes of 7th review period

416 child assault events attended by police during this period were considered for the 7th review. 25 of these events were identified as involving 'smacking' and 38 involved 'minor acts of physical discipline'. 

Event	Number
'Smacking'	25
'Minor act of physical discipline'	38
'Other child assault'	306
'Not specified'	8
'No offence disclosed'	39
Total	416

 

Events classified as 'not specified' will be explored and reported on as part of the 8th review as there was insufficient information available on these events at the time of analysis for this 7th review.

Of the 25 'smacking' events one resulted in prosecution, 13 resulted in a warning and 11 resulted in other / no further action being taken.  Of the 38 'minor acts of physical discipline' events, two resulted in prosecution, 12 resulted in warnings and 24 resulted in other / no further action being taken.

Of the 'smacking' and 'minor acts of physical discipline' events, files indicate that 30 events were referred to Child Youth and Family, 19 were referred to an inter-agency case management meeting (Family Violence Inter-Agency Response System or FVIARS) and 12 were referred to other support agencies. 

A breakdown of referrals is provided in the following table:

Events	Referral to CYF	Referral to FVIARS	Referral to other agency	Referral not specified
'Smacking'	7	6	3	17
'Minor act of physical discipline'	23	13	9	11

 

Some events were referred to both CYF and another agency. 'Referral not specified' indicates that the information is not recorded on the electronic file and does not necessarily mean that a referral was not completed.

Extra information on the three prosecutions

In the current review period, Police prosecuted one 'smacking' event for a charge of Assault Child (Manually) where a child was smacked for crying and a red mark was left on the child's leg. The matter was discharged without conviction.

Police prosecuted two 'minor act of physical discipline' events during this review period. The first event resulted in a charge of Assault Child (Manually) where the child was grabbed by the waist and held around the neck. The charge was withdrawn by leave. 

The second 'minor act of physical discipline' event resulted in a charge of Common Assault (Domestic) (Manually) where the victim was kicked in the back of the legs, causing him to stumble. The offender was convicted and is to come up for sentence if called upon within six months.

According to information on the electronic file, none of the defendants prosecuted for 'smacking' or 'minor act of physical discipline' events stated that the force used was reasonable in the circumstances.

Parent Call Centre

A recommendation from the Review of New Zealand Police and Child, Youth and Family Policies and Procedures relating to the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act was the development of child safety pamphlets, to be distributed when police attend an incident involving child safety. The pamphlet provides a number for a parent call centre which is able to answer any questions around a police visit or about child safety and services available. The Victim Liaison Officers nationally advise they received no calls during the seventh review period through the parent call centre relating to smacking.

Comparison with previous reviews

(Note the different durations of review periods)

Period 1: 23rd June 2007- 28th Sept 2007                     (3 months)

Period 2: 29th Sept 2007- 4th April 2008                       (6 months)

Period 3: 5th April 2008- 3rd October 2008                    (6 months)

Period 4: 4th October 2008- 4th April 2009                    (6 months)

Period 5: 5th April 2009- 23rd June 2009                       (2 months)

Period 6: 24th June - 22nd December 2009                    (6 months)

Period 7: 23rd December 2009- 22nd June 2010            (6 months)

Cases by review period

Event type	Review 1	Review 2	Review 3	Review 4	Review 5	Review 6	Review 7	Total
Smacking	3	13	9	8	3	11	25	72
Minor act of physical discipline	12	69	49	39	10	39	38	256
Other child assault, not specified or no offence disclosed	96	206	200	232	114	318	353	1519
Total:	111	288	258	279	127	368	416	1847

Case resolution

Event type	Resolution	Review 1	Review 2	Review 3	Review 4	Review 5	Review 6	Review 7	Total
Smacking	Warning/NFA/Other	3	13	8	8	3	10	24	69
	Prosecution	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	3
Minor act of physical discipline	Warning/NFA/Other	12	65	45	35	9	38	36	240
	Prosecution	0	4	4	4	1	1	2	16
Total		15