What punishment can follow hitting ones child?

Question

My friend hits to her child by an rectangle cardboard. Her child head doesn't scratch, it doesn't has blood, and her child is hurt in 1-2 seconds. Her child cries a lot and my friend hugs her kid. She sorry her kid and they are agree doesn't do it anymore, it's not good for teching kid.

After 3 years, her kid told about this event to a teacher.
The teacher calls police, and investate the case. During investing, her child told with Police about she did feels it very hurt that time, scratch and have blood in her head.

The father is called to be a witness, and he confirmed it's a soft hit, no scratch, no blood and short hurt duration.

My friend and her husband also join family treatment class, they told about how they tech and improve themselves in kid teaching. And the family treatment advisor agree they are good in kid teaching.

Now they prepare to go to the court for final decision.

I have a question is with this situation, what final decision can be? And what punishment can be decided?

Answer 1

  

Hello!

Thank you for contacting Lawline with your question! 

As I understand you, you have questions regarding whether or not your friend can be convicted of any crime due to your description of an abuse, and if so, what the punishment can be, and if other consequences may follow. 

I can’t assess if this case has been submitted to the criminal court. It will be difficult to answer your question with certainty, since the criminal court takes circumstances not known to me, into consideration when deciding upon conviction. However, I will to the best om my ability in English, try to answer your questions as accurate as possible.

Can, based on your description above, your friend’s action be assessed as criminal? 

Firstly, one has to assess whether or not the act itself is criminal, and secondly, whether or not there is evidence enough to convict your friend. 

The act, as you describe it, would be classified as a criminal assault due to Swedish criminal law (3 kap. 5§ brottsbalken), since it involves a physical action, causing another person bodily harm or pain, with the understanding and intent of this result. Regardless of whether or not the action is conducted in teaching purposes, it is illegal in Sweden to hit a child. The action however needs to inflict some degree of pain or harm to the victim, or else the action could be assessed as a minor assault if the pain is minor or highly temporary, or even as “ofredande”, a form of physical harassment without the infliction of pain or bodily harm (4 kap. 7 § brottsbalken). If the punch wasn’t hard, and did not inflict any remarkable pain or marks, it is not unusual for these kind of actions to be deemed as minor, or even harassments, also due to the use of a piece of cardboard. I would say that the main question is how hard the punch was, and whether or not pain or bodily harm occurred and if so, to what degree.

Secondly, this action must be proven beyond reasonable doubt in court, before your friend could be convicted. The evidence as I see it, is your friend’s statement, the fathers and the child’s statement. Other kind of evidence could be other witness statements or records of any injury like photographs or medical records. As I understand, neither of this additional evidence exists in this case. The court would then have to assess the case solely based on your friend’s, the father’s and the child’s statements, and whom of which is to be considered the most reliable and credible person. If the court finds this evidence to be enough to prove the offence beyond reasonable doubt, you friend will be convicted. I would say, depending on the child’s version, how detailed it is and how credible the story is, these kinds of cases, without additional evidence, is hard to prove in court. If the father says that he saw a punch, but it was soft and no physical marks or anything appeared, it it’s possible the court would rule against your friend but assess it as a minor assault instead of an average assault. 

What could the punishment be?

Depending on the assessment of the punch as mentioned above, the action could be regarded as assault, minor assault, or harassment. If the action is assessed as a minor assault or harassment, the punishment is a small fine. If it has been more than three years since the action, the statute of limitation has expired, and your friend can not be convicted. But if the action is seen as an average assault, the statute of limitation is five years from the time of the crime (35 kap. 1§ brottsbalken). Then, the punishment is no longer a fine, instead it is possible to get a shorter jail sentence. However, if this was your friends first conviction, it is more likely for her to get a kind of probation without jail time, called “villkorlig dom”. It is like a second chance, a reprimand without actually having to do anything and without having to serve any time, until one commits another serious offense. Then the court will most likely decide on jail time. But the conviction still goes into the criminal record, regardless of the punishment, but not if the statute of limitation has expired.

What other consequences can your friend’s action have?

Even if the case does not make it to criminal court, for example if there is not enough evidence, it is possible for the police to alert social services, so they can look into it and investigate the family situation and consider other measures within the social service system. 

It is not likely, solely based on this action, that your friend would lose custody of the child, neither is it likely that the social services decide upon compulsory custody. As I understand, the family has already submitted themselves to family counselling by the administration of the social services. If this case does not make it to criminal court, it is likely that these family classes are the only “punishment” that will come your friend’s way, as long as they follow these classes, and the social services does not discover any other circumstances in their care to be damaging for the child. 

Conclusion and advice 

In summary, solely based on your description of the event, it is not likely that the criminal court would assess this action as an average assault. However, with the witness statement of the father, and possibly a reliable statement from the child itself, it would be considered a minor assault. Furthermore, I want to emphasize that I do not have all the circumstances regarding this event, circumstances the court may have to conclude another assessment regarding the character of the punch. Nevertheless, if the court consider it a minor offence, the statute of limitation has expired if it occurred more than three years ago. If it is regarded as an average assault, your friend will most likely get sentenced a probation time, rather than jail time, provided she has not been convicted earlier. If she has, jail time would probably be no more than a month and could perhaps be served under a kind of house arrest. Otherwise, this event would likely not lead to any other consequences than those already in play for your friend, meaning the family classes, as long as the social services finds that the family participates and meet the social services expectations. 

In conclusion, I hope that you have received answers to your questions, otherwise you are welcome to contact me for clarification. You reach me by e-mail: [e-mail] 

Best regards,