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Children Act 2004
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58[F1Reasonable punishment: England]E+W
This section has no associated Explanatory Notes
(1)In relation to any offence specified in subsection (2), battery of a child [F2taking place in England] cannot be justified on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.
(2)The offences referred to in subsection (1) are—
(a)an offence under section 18 or 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (c. 100) (wounding and causing grievous bodily harm);
(b)an offence under section 47 of that Act (assault occasioning actual bodily harm);
(c)an offence under section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (c. 12) (cruelty to persons under 16).
[F3(d)an offence under section 75A of the Serious Crime Act 2015 (strangulation or suffocation).]
(3)Battery of a child [F4taking place in England] causing actual bodily harm to the child cannot be justified in any civil proceedings on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.
(4)For the purposes of subsection (3) “actual bodily harm” has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of section 47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.
(5)In section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, omit subsection (7).
Textual Amendments
F1S. 58 heading substituted (21.3.2022) by Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 (anaw 3), ss. 1(5)(c), 5(2)
F2Words in s. 58(1) inserted (21.3.2022) by Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 (anaw 3), ss. 1(5)(a), 5(2)
F3S. 58(2)(d) inserted (7.6.2022) by Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (c. 17), s. 90(6), Sch. 2 para. 9; S.I. 2022/553, regs. 1(2), 3(b)
F4Words in s. 58(3) inserted (21.3.2022) by Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 (anaw 3), ss. 1(5)(b), 5(2)
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