Lawfulness of corporal punishment

Home

Corporal punishment is lawful in the home.

Limited protection from violence is given by the Criminal Code (1988) and the Domestic Violence (Summary Proceedings) Act (1995). The Constitution (1979) states in section 5: “No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment.”

Schools

Corporal punishment is lawful in schools under the Regulations to the Education Act (1992), and in government and government assisted primary schools children as young as 5 years of age can be given up to six strokes using “a leather strap twenty inches in length and one and a half inches in breadth and a quarter of an inch in thickness” by the head teacher or an Assisted Teacher in the presence of the head (Statutory Rules and Orders, 1959, section 9, in force from 1960). In practice, all types of teachers apply corporal punishment (Human Rights Association (2002), NGO Initial Report on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, January 2002).

Penal system

Corporal punishment is lawful as a sentence for crime. The Corporal Punishment of Juveniles Act (Cap.123) permits a juvenile convicted of a crime to be caned up to 12 strokes on the buttocks using a light rod, and the court should state who is to carry out the punishment and where. If this is not stated, it is administered by a policeman at a police station. A juvenile is defined as someone under the age of 16 years (Juveniles Act, 1990).

Corporal punishment is lawful as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions. The Juveniles Act and the Juveniles (Approved Schools) Rules allow corporal punishment to be administered on males within approved schools.

Alternative care

Corporal punishment is lawful in other institutions and forms of childcare. Corporal punishment of males is permitted and regulated in approved schools under the Juveniles Act and the Juveniles (Approved Schools) Rules. There is no legislation covering children’s homes or foster care.

Workplace

No information.

Prevalence research

A UNICEF study of child vulnerability in Barbados, St Vincent and St Lucia, completed in November 2006, found that younger girls and boys were much more likely to be punished than their teenage siblings in all three countries. The number of small children who received no punishment was below 50% in all countries. Overall, younger children, both girls and boys, were more likely to be subjected to corporal punishment, such as spanking, slapping or hitting with the hand or an object. (Reported in The Barbados Advocate, 23 May 2007)

Recommendations by human rights treaty bodies

Committee on the Rights of the Child

“The Committee is deeply concerned that corporal punishment is widely practised in schools, in the administration of justice, in other institutions and within the family, and that it is regulated by law and used against children from an early age.

“The Committee recommends that the State party urgently:

1. prohibit through legislative and administrative provisions the use of corporal punishment in all contexts, including in schools, in the administration of justice, in other institutions and within the family;
2. make use of information and education campaigns to sensitize parents, professionals working with children and the public in general to the harm caused by corporal punishment and to the importance of alternative, non-violent, forms of discipline, as provided for in article 28.2 of the Convention.

“While recognizing the State party’s efforts in this domain the Committee remains concerned that:
h) the Corporal Punishment of Juveniles Act allows for the caning of juveniles who have been found guilty of crime.

The Committee recommends that the State party:
f) urgently prohibit the corporal punishment of children in the context of the juvenile justice system….”
(13 June 2002, CRC/C/15/Add.184, Concluding observations on initial report, paras.28, 29, 52 and 53)