DiKE Körperliche Züchtigung und Kindsmisshandlung

The media today often addresses the theme of the criminalization of parents with sensational headlines, suggesting to readers that parents are given little room in raising their children. But is this true?

This work examines from a historical perspective where the line between legal and illegal corporal punishment lies in Swiss criminal law today. The starting point is the criminal law systems of the cantons of St. Gallen and Basel-Landschaft in the early 20th century. Through selected criminal cases and insights into their broader political, economic, and social context, it illustrates how the criminalization of corporal punishment has developed in Swiss criminal practice to this day and what discretion parents still have in raising their children from a legal standpoint.