Samoa’s Supreme Court judge Justice Vui Clarence Nelson says corporal punishment will only turn children into violent adults.
Justice Nelson, a former UN committee member on the Rights of the Child said this during the National Conversation on Corporal Punishment held last week.
He said violence against children teaches the young that aggression is an acceptable way to solve problems, a cycle that continues into adulthood.
“Violent criminals are not born violent,” the judge said.
“Men who hit their wives and beat or even kill their wives are not born that way. They become violent because they learn it and who do they learn it from? They learn it from us, the adults.”
He said every time a child witnesses or experiences violence at home or in school, the child learns that force can be used to control others.
“You begin to embed the lesson that violence can be used to solve problems.
“But we all know violence solves nothing. Violence gets us nowhere except more violence.” Justice Vui described corporal punishment as a form of assault, not discipline, saying adults often justify it under the guise of teaching obedience.
“Some parents call it smacking. I’ve always called it assault, because that’s what it is.
“If we do it as adults to each other, it’s a criminal offence.
“But if we do it to children, suddenly it’s okay. We rationalise it as discipline. The problem is, as the science shows, it doesn’t work.”
