Thirty years ago, Sweden was the first of almost 25 countries to institute a ban on spanking or smacking children.  This article discusses whether the anti-spanking activists  were right all this time.   The article details the downgrade in reported incidents of child spanking in Sweden since the institute of the ban.  Both sides of the issue are quoted, from human rights activists who claim that spanking children is a global human rights violation, to lawmakers from other counties that claim that Sweden's rising crime rate is a direct result of this ban.