The Anti-Spanking Bill: Now Some
Legislators Want to Regulate Parenthood
Legislators Want to Regulate Parenthood
One of the pillars of the Education Alliance is respect for Parental rights over the upbringing and training of their children. In the last few years there have been a string of laws and proposed laws on education that undercut Parents rights over their own children. This includes everything from teaching homosexuality as a positive and normal lifestyle (AB537) to studying and later implementing school based health clinics (AB2560).
Now a member of the legislature, Assemblywoman Sally J. Lieber (D Mountain View) has taken the anti-parental rights agenda a step further from the schoolhouse into the living room with her anti-spanking bill – AB 755. Ms. Lieber's bill would make it a crime for a parent to cause their child who is three or under physical pain or mental suffering with any object (such as a switch). It would cover not only obvious child abuse, but any spanking whatsoever for any reason. According to news reports, Ms. Lieber believes that since she and her husband do not spank their cat (they do not have children), parents in California should not spank their children either.
Let me pause here and state that no one should support or protect those parents who abuse (or neglect) their children. As a former foster parent, I have seen the awful effects of abuse and neglect on a child. No parent should ever beat their child to the point of abuse. I also recognize that the difference between a spanking and a beating can be one of semantics. Space does not permit me to delve into what should be a proper spanking and what is improper and abusive beating. Good people can honestly differ on what is the proper role of spanking or if spanking is a proper discipline at all. Nevertheless legislation like this goes beyond the government outlawing a form of child abuse (which is already the law). AB 755 seeks to prohibit a form of parental discipline that has existed since men and women first starting having children.
This bill is also very dangerous as it provides that there is a REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION that if the physical pain or mental suffering (two terms not definded in AB 755) of the child is due to the use of an object, including a stick or a switch (two very common words for a spanking tool), then the spanking is legally unjustifiable. It is VERY important that we all understand what this means. In a regular criminal proceeding the prosecuting attorney has the burden of proving to the jury that the parent committed a crime, beyond a reasonable doubt. Under AB755 if the parent used a stick or a switch (or any of the other listed items in the bill) to spank his/her child, then the PARENT BEARS THE BURDEN to prove to the jury that the spanking was justified. This proof burden is very difficult to overcome. Thus not only is Assemblywoman Lieber wishing to make spanking a crime but she wants the parents arrested and charged with this crime to have the deck stacked against them in the courtroom! A rapist, a bank robber and a cop killer will have more protection under the criminal justice system than California parents!
This proposed legislation is just plain wrong. To assume that all parents in California should not have the right to discipline their children with a spanking (or a time out or a myriad of other excellent child rearing tools and techniques) is simply an arrogant and elitist view of government knowing more about how to raise your children than you do.
Government should enforce and encourage the rights and responsibilities of parents, not undercut those rights, threaten them with an unfair trial and up to six years in the state prison system. Children should not be threatened with being thrown into the foster care system simply because a parent wants to reinforce to his / her two year old not run out into the street with a spanking when the child does not listen the first time.
If Ms. Lieber wishes to introduce a positive bill to prevent child abuse, then a bill to require parenting classes in California High Schools would be far more useful than requiring our police forces to station themselves in our living rooms. I recommend you let your State Senator, Assemblyperson and the Governor know you oppose this bill.
Craig Alexander, Esq.
Member, Education Alliance
Now a member of the legislature, Assemblywoman Sally J. Lieber (D Mountain View) has taken the anti-parental rights agenda a step further from the schoolhouse into the living room with her anti-spanking bill – AB 755. Ms. Lieber's bill would make it a crime for a parent to cause their child who is three or under physical pain or mental suffering with any object (such as a switch). It would cover not only obvious child abuse, but any spanking whatsoever for any reason. According to news reports, Ms. Lieber believes that since she and her husband do not spank their cat (they do not have children), parents in California should not spank their children either.
Let me pause here and state that no one should support or protect those parents who abuse (or neglect) their children. As a former foster parent, I have seen the awful effects of abuse and neglect on a child. No parent should ever beat their child to the point of abuse. I also recognize that the difference between a spanking and a beating can be one of semantics. Space does not permit me to delve into what should be a proper spanking and what is improper and abusive beating. Good people can honestly differ on what is the proper role of spanking or if spanking is a proper discipline at all. Nevertheless legislation like this goes beyond the government outlawing a form of child abuse (which is already the law). AB 755 seeks to prohibit a form of parental discipline that has existed since men and women first starting having children.
This bill is also very dangerous as it provides that there is a REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION that if the physical pain or mental suffering (two terms not definded in AB 755) of the child is due to the use of an object, including a stick or a switch (two very common words for a spanking tool), then the spanking is legally unjustifiable. It is VERY important that we all understand what this means. In a regular criminal proceeding the prosecuting attorney has the burden of proving to the jury that the parent committed a crime, beyond a reasonable doubt. Under AB755 if the parent used a stick or a switch (or any of the other listed items in the bill) to spank his/her child, then the PARENT BEARS THE BURDEN to prove to the jury that the spanking was justified. This proof burden is very difficult to overcome. Thus not only is Assemblywoman Lieber wishing to make spanking a crime but she wants the parents arrested and charged with this crime to have the deck stacked against them in the courtroom! A rapist, a bank robber and a cop killer will have more protection under the criminal justice system than California parents!
This proposed legislation is just plain wrong. To assume that all parents in California should not have the right to discipline their children with a spanking (or a time out or a myriad of other excellent child rearing tools and techniques) is simply an arrogant and elitist view of government knowing more about how to raise your children than you do.
Government should enforce and encourage the rights and responsibilities of parents, not undercut those rights, threaten them with an unfair trial and up to six years in the state prison system. Children should not be threatened with being thrown into the foster care system simply because a parent wants to reinforce to his / her two year old not run out into the street with a spanking when the child does not listen the first time.
If Ms. Lieber wishes to introduce a positive bill to prevent child abuse, then a bill to require parenting classes in California High Schools would be far more useful than requiring our police forces to station themselves in our living rooms. I recommend you let your State Senator, Assemblyperson and the Governor know you oppose this bill.
Craig Alexander, Esq.
Member, Education Alliance
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