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The criminal law and child neglect: - Action for Children

The criminal law and child neglect: - Action for Children

The criminal law and child neglect: - Action for Children

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Replacing ‘ill-treatment’with ‘maltreatment’‘Ill-treatment’ has no statutory definitionor accepted definition within case <strong>law</strong>.‘Maltreatment’ is used in the proposed newoffence. It is the term currently used by <strong>child</strong>protection professionals <strong>and</strong> researchersto encompass all <strong>for</strong>ms of what wasconventionally described as ‘<strong>child</strong> abuse<strong>and</strong> <strong>neglect</strong>’. It is used throughout thestatutory <strong>child</strong> protection guidance WorkingTogether to Safeguard <strong>Children</strong> as well as2012 legal aid legislation in the context ofthe abuse of <strong>child</strong>ren <strong>and</strong> vulnerable adults. 29Finally, the use of ‘maltreatment’ would alsosatisfy international pressure to st<strong>and</strong>ardiseterminology <strong>and</strong> definitions to enhance thecomparability of research data. 30Whilst the term maltreatment differs from‘ill-treatment or the impairment of health ordevelopment’ as contained in the <strong>Children</strong>Act 1989 s.31(9), it is important that the term‘ill-treatment’ is not included in the proposedoffence. Preserving the term ill-treatment,but not the other four conduct elements bywhich the current offence can be committed,would create significant difficulties, which wewish to avoid.Replacing ‘unnecessarysuffering’ with‘significant harm’By using the term ‘significant harm’ in theoffence, the intention is both to removethe antiquated concept of ‘unnecessarysuffering’, <strong>and</strong> to align terminology withthe civil <strong>law</strong> as contained in the <strong>Children</strong>Act 1989. 31 This will provide a consistentthreshold of when action can be takenacross different agencies, particularlyduring multi-agency <strong>child</strong> protectionconferences, with the different st<strong>and</strong>ards ofproof maintaining the necessary distinctionbetween <strong>criminal</strong> <strong>and</strong> civil proceedings.29Legal Aid, Sentencing <strong>and</strong> Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 Sch.1 Pt 1 paras 3(5), 13(3).30<strong>The</strong> United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called <strong>for</strong> st<strong>and</strong>ardised clear operational legal <strong>child</strong>welfare-based definitions: General Comment No.13 (2011): <strong>The</strong> Right of the Child to Freedom from All Forms of Violence,(UNCRC, April 2011), para.18. “Child maltreatment” is the preferred compendious public health terminology of the WHO<strong>and</strong> the Atlanta Centers <strong>for</strong> Disease Control (World Health Organisation <strong>and</strong> International Society <strong>for</strong> the Prevention ofChild Abuse <strong>and</strong> Neglect, Preventing Child Maltreatment: a Guide to Taking <strong>Action</strong> <strong>and</strong> Generating Evidence (2006), pp. 3,9; R.T. Leeb <strong>and</strong> others ., Child Maltreatment Surveillance: Uni<strong>for</strong>m Definitions <strong>for</strong> Public Health <strong>and</strong> Recommended DataElements, Version 1.0 (Centers <strong>for</strong> Disease Control <strong>and</strong> Prevention <strong>and</strong> National Center <strong>for</strong> Injury Prevention <strong>and</strong> Control,2008), pp.3–5, 11). See also D.A. Wolfe <strong>and</strong> L. Yuan, Conceptual <strong>and</strong> Epidemiological Framework <strong>for</strong> Child Maltreatment(Health Canada, 2001), pp.4–5.31<strong>Children</strong> Act 1989, ss.17, 31(9) <strong>and</strong> (10).12.

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