Physical punishment of children: Assessing the validity of the legal definition of “reasonable force”

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CECW Information Sheet #71E. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work.

Durrant, Joan
Trocmé, Nico
Fallon, Barbara
Milne, Cheryl
Black, Tara
Petrowski, Nicole

Information Sheet #71
CECW archives material

In 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada set out seven criteria to distinguish reasonable from abusive corrective force with children. This information sheet summarizes a study that assessed the validity of the criteria defining reasonable corrective force by mapping them onto a nationally representative data set of substantiated cases of physical abuse.

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