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I, personally, don't believe that children should ever be left alone in a car, but I'm not sure where the legal line should be drawn. On one extreme, it would
by Osiris 12y ago
I, personally, don't believe that children should ever be left alone in a car, but I'm not sure where the legal line should be drawn.
On one extreme, it would only be criminal if a child dies under your care, which would be criminally negligent homicide or something similar.
On the other, we can't run in to drop a movie off at RedBox without getting 3 kids out of the car.
I wish people in positions of authority were able to apply more common sense and wisdom than always involving the criminal justice system.
My wife knows a lady that does (unlicensed) day care, and she leaves kids in the car all the time. She just tells them to hide so no one sees them. As far as I know, none have been injured, but it's also pretty irresponsible and I wouldn't allow her to watch my child.
- greedo 12y agoUnfortunately, people in positions of authority have no incentive to apply wisdom and common sense. Imagine if they ignore this report, and something bad happened to the child? They'd be crucified. It's far easier to take the report, do the minimal amount of investigation required by policy, and then let a prosecutor apply their discretion as to whether charges are pressed. The same perverse incentives apply to the prosecutor as well. It's no skin off his back to charge the mother, and he can always say "it's for the children!" if queried about it. But should a child die, when both the police and prosecutor could have done something, is something our society won't allow.