Legal Update: Legal Q&A - Emotional cruelty

Q: The government is considering introducing a new criminal offence of emotional cruelty to children. Isn't this behaviour already criminalised?

A: No. In civil law, a local authority must carry out a child protection investigation if it considers that a child is suffering or likely to suffer harm. "Harm" is defined as "ill treatment or the impairment of health or development", and "development" and "health" are defined to include emotional development and mental health.

However, emotional cruelty is not explicitly contained in criminal legislation, meaning that it does not amount to a criminal offence. In criminal law, persons can be prosecuted for the offence of "cruelty to children", which is contained in Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. It provides that any person over 16 years who has the custody, charge or care of a child under 16 years who "wilfully assaults, ill-treats, neglects, abandons, or exposes him, or causes or procures him to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, abandoned, or exposed, in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health (including injury to or loss of sight, or hearing, or limb, or organ of the body, and any mental derangement), that person shall be guilty of a misdemeanour". According to this act, neglect includes treating a child in a manner likely to cause injury to his or her health by failing to provide adequate food, clothing, medical aid or lodging for the child.