Making Emotional Neglect a Crime
The Victorian law that governs how child neglect is defined is to be updated by bringing forward the Serious Crime Bill.
The criminal law on child neglect has not changed for 80 years. It is based on the Poor Law Amendment Act 1868 and its replacement, the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, which required the neglect to be “willful”, and for a child to be subjected to “unnecessary suffering”. It was brought into force following a series of cases involving a religious sect known as the Peculiar People, who refused to offer medical assistance to their children, instead relying on the power of prayer to heal.
The latest change has been brought about as a result of a sustained campaign by Action for Children and MP for Ceredigion, Mark Williams.
Many people said that the change was unnecessary because the 1933 Act used the term “ill-treat” and that was inclusive of all forms of abuse, including emotional neglect.
However the MP said that a 1981 ruling by Lord Diplock interpreted child neglect as ‘to omit to act, to fail to provide adequately for its needs’. The ruling referred only to a child’s physical needs rather than their spiritual, educational, moral or emotional needs.
The MP also argued that in cases of domestic violence, emotional abuse is criminal for those aged 16 years and over, but children under the age of 16 are left unprotected.
Most would agree that the current need in law for neglect to be “wilful” and for a child to be subjected to “unnecessary suffering” is outrageous. As Mr Williams said, “…there is no “acceptable” level of suffering for children”.
Last month, the NSPCC reported that the number of cases of child emotional abuse referred to the police and children’s services had risen by 47 percent in a single year, amounting to 8,000, of which 5,354 were thought serious enough to merit further inquiries.
Emotional abuse can either be active and premeditated, for example rejecting, terrorising exploiting, corrupting or isolating a child, or it can be passive abuse. This is where a parent or carer denies a child the love and care they need. This can manifest itself as:
- being emotionally unavailable
- having a negative attitude and not offering praise or encouragement
- speaking or acting around a child in an inappropriate way or expecting a child to do things they are not emotionally mature enough to do
- failing to recognise a child’s individuality, for example an adult using a child to fulfil their own needs without recognising the child has needs of their own
- not encouraging a child to make friends and mix with others of their own age.
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