Anti-Abandon Law

Baby Car Safe, Car Seat, Child Safety, Featured, Hot Car Death /

As stated in our previous posting, even though there are no federal law prohibiting the act of leaving children unattended in your vehicle, 20 out of 52 states have adopted their own versions to reduce the chances of this occurrence.  The following are just some of the harsher punishments handed out to parents if found convicted.  These are explained below for everyone to understand.

Class A misdemeanor in the state of Connecticut: In this state, this type of misdemeanor is the most serious of all misdemeanors (A-D).  If convicted, parent(s) can be fined up to $2,000 and one year in jail.

Felony of the 3rd degree in the state of Florida: In this state, if convicted, parent(s) can be fined up to $5,000, five years in prison, and five years in probation.  If you are again convicted during your probation for other crimes, pending severity, the judge may add on at least an additional year of jail time.

Class 3 felony in the state of Hawaii: If convicted, parent(s) can serve more than two years or less than ten years in prison.

Class 3 felony in the state of Illinois: If convicted, parent(s) can serve two to five years in prison and one year of mandatory supervised release.

Manslaughter in the 2nd degree in Kentucky: If convicted, parent(s) can serve five to ten years in prison and be fined between $1,000 – $10,000 pending on judge.

Death of a child due to unattended child in vehicle in the state of Michigan: If convicted, parent(s) can serve up to fifteen years in prison and be fined $10,000 with a felony charge.

In addition to the charges above, some judges may tact on additional charges to the sentencing.  The three popular charges are listed below:

Endangering the welfare of a minor: Parent(s) may face additional jail time, additional fines up to $10,000, and also the court may strip the parent of his/her parental rights.
If the child is a single parent, then a new guardian may be found to take over.

Negligent parenthood: Depending of the state you are in, you may be fined additional $1,000 on top of the convictions above listed, or one year probation, or both.

Reckless endangerment:  Depending on the state you are in, you may be tacked on (not including above mentioned) with an additional one year in jail and probation, and $2,000 in fines.

Is a child’s life more important or being irresponsible by leaving the child unattended in a vehicle and putting him/her at risk more important? How do you explain to your child the reason why you have to go to jail? We, as adults, should be responsible and be role models to our children.  Let us do the right thing!

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