conclusion is therefore that both of these key law enforcement agencies already view parental physical discipline as amounting to assault. There will still be those who say it is needed for a child’s discipline. The Inquiry has shown that to be false and actually causes worse discipline, behavioural issues, health issues and violence. There will be those who say it never did them any harm or it made them the person they are today. The Inquiry has shown these to be myths. There will still be those who say the children of today are worse behaved because of x, y and z and so physical and harsh verbal discipline is required. The Inquiry has shown that many of the behaviours cited as x, y and z are actually caused by violent upbringings, and in that smacking and verbally abusing children exacerbates the problem. This reluctance to accept the facts is understandable. Violence is the only way many people in Samoa know. It does not mean that this is the correct way. Indeed, the Inquiry has highlighted just how far violence goes in undermining the cultural values of Samoa and goes against the word of God. It is only going to get worse unless people are prepared to consider an alternative way. “O au o matua fanau.” (Children are the ‘core’ of their parents). Samoan expression What was undoubtedly borne out of love has transformed into part of the foundation of family violence. The way in which children are generally raised does not convey the love from a parent to their offspring. This is a painful realization to arrive at, but arrive at it we must. Samoa is not alone in coming to this realization and across the world countries have been gradually coming to terms with the consequences of physical and harsh verbal discipline of children. That is to Samoa’s benefit as it means there are a range of case studies from which lessons can be learned. The first point to note is that research worldwide shows countries experiencing exactly the same consequences as Samoa as a result of violent discipline and other violence towards children. It is beyond doubt that children who had an abusive upbringing are significantly more likely to commit violence than those brought up in non-violent, loving households, in some cases 5 times as likely.6 “There is a strong correlation between those States that use corporal punishment and negative societal outcomes, and there is an equally strong correlation between those states that have banned corporal punishment and positive societal outcomes.” Ioane Guthrow, Inquiry document 84 The world is waking up to these consequences and now only two7 of the European Union countries have not already banned corporal punishment or are in the process of considering a ban. Sweden was the first to do so in 1979 when it changed their legislation to give children the same legal protection as adults. This was accompanied by a national education campaign and has been a huge success. In the 35 years following 6 A.K. “Spanking and crime rates.” The Economist. (15 July 2013). Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2013/07/spanking-and-crime-rates. 7 United Kingdom and Czech Republic