All 13 child assault events involving "smacking" and 65 of the 69 "minor acts of physical discipline" events against children, resulted in a warning or no further Police action.

Of the 69 "minor acts of physical discipline" events against children four were prosecuted as follows:

• Two were charged with Assault Child (manually)
• Two were charged with Common Assault

These prosecutions were spread nationally and not concentrated in any one district.

To date resolutions for the above four prosecutions are as follows:

The period following the enactment of the Amendment has been "business as usual" for Police.

The current review period of 29 September 2007 to 4 April 2008 has shown a slight increase in the total volume of 'child assault' events Police have attended: (288), compared with the initial three month review period (111). This is to be expected due to the current review period being six months in comparison to the initial three month review period.

Background 

On 22 June 2007, the Amendment came into force. Following the commencement, Police agreed to undertake a three month review (23 June to 28 September 2007) of the impact of the Amendment on Police activity. A summary of the three month review findings was released on 20 December 2007. This review found:

• The majority of the assault events involving "smacking" or "minor acts of physical discipline" resulted in no further Police action or a warning of some sort. Three events resulted in no further Police action, seven events resulted in a warning from Police against the use of "physical force to discipline" their children, and two events resulted in a warning and a specific reminder about the Amendment.
• In three child assault events, the resolution outcome is not specified on the electronic Police file.

Volume of "smacking", "minor acts of physical discipline" and other assault events

• The first three months following enactment of the Amendment have identified a small increase in Police activity in attending and/or investigating child assaults matching the original search criteria.⁵
• Police attended a total of 111 child assault events (matching the original search criteria),⁶ 15 of which involved "smacking" and "minor acts of physical discipline".
• This represents a minor increase in the figures for the previous three month period prior to th

Background

• On 22 June 2007, the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act (the Amendment) came into force, amending section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961.