Should parents who leave (unharmed) children alone in cars face charges?

Yes

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by Viv Corridor

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Every summer as temperatures soar, tragedy plays out in vehicles across the country. Small children, left alone intentionally or by mistake, die excruciating deaths from hyperthermia. To date in 2007, approximately 20 children have died this way. Researchers estimate that over the past decade, hundreds of children nationwide have died under these circumstances.

Faced with the tragedy of a child's death, authorities must wrestle with the question of whether to prosecute the parent or caregiver who left the child alone in the vehicle. The barometer for public sympathy often seems to be whether the caregiver intended to leave the child, or simply forgot he or she was present in the vehicle. Typically, public outcry and prosecutorial action are greater when it's apparent the responsible party intended to leave the child.

But should intent really be the yard stick by which we measure culpability in these circumstances? Should parents or caregivers still be prosecuted even in cases where they claim, and can reasonably substantiate their claim, that they simply forgot about the child?

Our judicial system does provide for the prosecution and punishment of people whose actions cause harm, or even death, to others, regardless of their intent; vehicular manslaughter is frequently charged against drunk or distracted drivers who injure or kill others. Indeed, negligence and manslaughter charges exist to satisfy the idea that a person may be responsible for harm or death even if they did not mean for that to be the result or their actions or inaction. The charges can be used to satisfy the survivors' or victims' thirst for justice, while acknowledging that the perpetrator deserves a less harsh punishment because he or she did not intentionally inflict harm.

So it is reasonable to say that giving parents or caregivers a "free pass" and allow them to go uncharged in cases of child hyperthermia deaths is to fly in the face of established legal precedence. But there are other aspects of this issue that must be addressed as well.

Let's examine what seems to be the most palatable defense: the parent or caregiver forgot the child was present in the car. Some experts have argued that parents who forget their children in the car are experiencing the same mechanism at work that causes all of us to forget things from time to time, from where we left our car keys to paying a bill on time.

But one doesn't have to be an expert in how the mind works to understand that a child is NOT like your car keys. Parental instincts are among the most powerful drives experienced by humans. It would require a nearly frenetic level of distraction to submerge those instincts beneath day-to-day cares. Such a level of distraction is considered criminally negligent when it occurs in the work place or on the highway. Why should it be any different when the victim of that distraction is the perpetrator's own child?

Now let's examine the nature of the harm being caused. The death of a child is always tragic, but death by hyperthermia is also brutal. The child's life is at risk as soon as her internal temperature exceeds 104 degrees. Brain damage can occur at just 109 degrees, and by the time the internal temperature reaches 115 F, death is inevitable. In the early stages of hyperthermia, the victim may experience dizziness, headache, nausea and vomiting. As the temperature rises, symptoms escalate to convulsions, actual burning of the skin, bruising as blood vessels rupture, and ultimately coma.

It is a horrific way for anyone to die, as they are literally cooked alive. Imagine how much worse it must be for a small, helpless child.

Some opponents of punishment for parents and caregivers argue that the debate over whether or not, or how, to penalize the parents is academic (since loss of the child should be punishment enough) and distracts from the larger issue of how to prevent this from happening in the first place.

Yet historically, incidences of crimes of ignorance and omission, such as drunk and distracted driving or even product liability, have only gone down when penalties for the crimes became more severe. If education is the key to making people change their habits, fear of prosecution is the impetus that makes more people pay attention to the educators' message.

Parents who leave their children alone in a vehicle should be prosecuted, even if the child is not physically harmed by the experience and even if the parent did not intend to leave the child. In cases where the parent forgets a child, and the child is not harmed, negligence charges should be brought. If the child is harmed, forgetful parents should face abuse charges and involuntary manslaughter if the child dies. Parents who intentionally leave their children in a vehicle should face attempted murder charges if the child survives, regardless of whether he is harmed or not. If the child dies, the parents should face murder charges.

Being a parent is the most responsibility-fille d job any adult can have. Holding parents accountable for failing in those responsibilities, whether intent or ineptitude are at the heart of that failure, may save the lives of hundreds of children across the country.

Learn more about this author, Viv Corridor.
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