Jersey smacking ban set to become law in April

Parents will no longer be allowed to smack their children as punishment from April 2020

Jersey has banned corporal punishment by parents, including in the home.

The amendment, which passed the States Assembly by 39 votes to four, will come into force from April.

The change means the Channel Island is the second place in the British Isles to introduce a ban and is set to be the first to enforce it.

Scotland was the first UK nation to ban smacking in October, but it is not expected to come into force there until November 2020.

Children's Minister Sam Mezec said the law was a "sign of change" of attitudes to child safety, following years of controversy over care services.

A 2017 report concluded that the care system was failing children, with one building being described as a "house of horrors".

Senator Mezec said it was "indisputable" that previous law was incompatible with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

He added: "I am proud to find ourselves in this position, able to claim today to be trailblazers, rather than lagging behind."

The law also states corporal punishment can no longer be used as a defence in criminal proceedings.

Senator Sarah Ferguson opposed the law during debate, arguing "reasonable" physical punishment should remain legal and removing it would "detract from authoritative parenting".

She said: "Parents have to have sanctions and sitting on the naughty step isn't really a sanction."