07/12/2011
By Dianne Williamson
Legislation fueled by populist anger over bad legal cases often becomes the subject of maudlin and mediocre Lifetime movies, but it’s seldom a good idea in real life.
Such is the case with Caylee’s Law, a hugely popular push that would make it a federal crime for a parent or guardian not to quickly report the disappearance or death of a child.
- You don't need another law for something that is already illegal!
More than 1 million people have signed a petition on Change.org that would make it a felony if parents fail to report the death of a child within an hour, or fail to report a missing child within 24 hours. The petition is the most successful campaign in the site’s history. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states, backed by voter support, have introduced similar bills.
The frenzy, of course, stems from the already notorious verdict in the case of Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter and will be released from prison next week, even though a feral cat would make a better mother than she would. Americans were outraged by the verdict and rightly so, but creating a new law as an outlet for that outrage is misguided.
But it’s not unusual, even though laws named after dead children are often a bad idea and infamous for having unintended consequences. Consider “Megan’s Law,” which was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was abducted and killed by a convicted sex offender who had moved in across the street. The well-meaning law mandated that information about sex offenders be made available to the public, and it passed in the wake of fear after that crime.
While Nancy Grace claimed that the “devil is dancing” over the Anthony verdict, he’s also lurking in the details of such bills. Studies show that Megan’s Law doesn’t reduce recidivism by sex offenders, although it adds thousands of low-risk offenders to the registries. In August of 2009, The Economist published a critical look at “named” legislation and concluded the following:“Harsh laws often do little to protect the innocent. The police complain that having so many petty sex offenders on registries makes it hard to keep track of the truly dangerous ones. Cash that might be spent on treating sex offenders — which sometimes works — is spent on huge indiscriminate registries. Public registers drive serious offenders underground, which makes them harder to track and more likely to re-offend. And registers give parents a false sense of security: Most sex offenders are never even reported, let alone convicted.”
But most politicians are less concerned with details than with appearing soft on crime, so few dare to vote against laws named after crime victims, especially dead ones.
Yesterday, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said he was worried about a “rush to judgment” in regards to Caylee’s Law. Formerly a lawyer in private practice, he raised issues of enforcement and other pertinent questions: Must the parent have knowledge that the child is missing? Should the parent have known? How would the law affect visitation cases in probate court, in which a child isn’t returned on time to a parent? Would it create an unacceptable burden on police? When does the clock start on a missing child?
“People’s emotions are running so high right now,” Early said. “Is this a reaction to everyone’s anger and outrage? This bill could be called the ‘We’re Furious She Got Away With It’ law. We have to give this time before rushing something through. We have an awful lot of safeguards with regard to children. We want to vet this carefully. We have to get it right.”
Activist Michelle Crowder of Oklahoma is pushing Caylee’s Law, and she admitted that she didn’t consult with any law enforcement professionals before developing it. But she likely watched the Anthony trial, in which it was revealed that the search for little Caylee began after 31 days only after her grandmother — not Casey — called police.
“Abandoning a child is illegal. Abuse is illegal,” Crowder told The New York Times. “But not reporting a child missing is somehow OK?”
She makes a good point, but so does Early. If Caylee’s Law is an emotional reaction to the little girl’s death, it’s too late to affect the case it was crafted for. The overwhelming majority of parents don’t need a law to compel them to report a missing child. Those who do will likely not be deterred by the threat of a felony, just as men intent on killing their wives or girlfriends aren’t deterred by the threat of a restraining order.
- I find it ironic though, that none of this was ever considered when passing draconian laws against sex offenders.
“It’s just more bad after bad,” said Early, and he’s right. Despite their best intentions, those seeking the elusive “Justice for Caylee” won’t find it in a federal law, especially one based on emotion rather than reason.
