Courts acquitted parents who left children with serious injuries under the reasonable force defence.

Evidence

In 2001, a man in Invercargill was acquitted of common assault after hitting his twelve-year-old son with a piece of wood on the grounds that the force used was “reasonable correction.” In 2002, a woman in Palmerston North was acquitted after hitting her seven-year-old daughter seven times with a riding crop, leaving marks, on the same grounds. In 2003, a man in Auckland was acquitted after hitting his teenage son multiple times in the head, again on reasonable correction grounds. — , The Rod and the Child, 10050