Pool photo by Joe Burbank
Casey Anthony, left, at a sentencing hearing on Thursday. She was found guilty of four counts of lying to police investigators.
By ROBBIE BROWN
Published: July 8, 2011
The jury has spoken, the public has seethed and now it is time for politicians to offer their opinions on the verdict that dominated the news.
Related
Anthony Is Sentenced to 4-Year Term for Lying (July 8, 2011)
Media Decoder Blog: Networks Joust for Interviews in Casey Anthony Case (July 6, 2011)
Times Topic: Casey Anthony
Related in Opinion
Op-Ed Columnist: A Sordid Cast Around Casey Anthony (July 10, 2011)
Orange County Sheriff's Office, via Associated Press
Caylee Anthony was not reported missing for 31 days.
Matthew S. Gunby/Associated Press
State Senator Nancy Jacobs of Maryland supports a bill.
Their view? Not in my state.
Legislators in more than a dozen states have introduced bills that would make it a felony for a parent to not report the death or disappearance of a child within a certain window of time. Such legislation would have criminalized the behavior of Casey Anthony, the Florida womanacquitted on Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. Ms. Anthony did not report her daughter missing for 31 days.
“Justice did not prevail in Florida,” said State Representative Richard Henderson, a Kentucky Democrat. “Maybe this will change a deranged person’s mind in the future. Or maybe it will just give the judicial system another weapon in its arsenal to seek justice.”
Following a longtime practice, the bills are named after the young victim in the case. Like Jessica’s Law and Megan’s Law, which punish sex offenders, and Kyleigh’s Law, which promotes safe driving, these are called Caylee’s Law.
“When lawmakers name it after a sympathetic figure, especially a child, it increases the likelihood that people will vote for it on an emotional level,” said Kevin Underhill, a San Francisco lawyer and legal blogger. But he warns that the bills cover very rare situations and could be overused. He offered the example of a parent whose child runs away from home.
The push for Caylee’s Law began hours after the verdict. A 30-year-old, unemployed woman in Durant, Okla., named Michelle Crowder created a petition on Tuesday on the Web site Change.org calling for action from everyone from state representatives to members of Congress to President Obama.
It has now received more than 700,000 signatures.
Ms. Crowder, who has two daughters, said in a telephone interview she could not believe it was legal for Ms. Anthony to not report her daughter’s disappearance for a month. “Abandoning a child is illegal. Abuse is illegal. But not reporting a child missing is somehow O.K.?” she asked.
That was equally surprising to State Representative Michael Stinziano, an Ohio Democrat. At first, he worried about appearing to capitalize on public furor over the verdict, but he received so many e-mails from constituents that he said he felt compelled to act. Mr. Stinziano has been working on a bill.
“The question everyone keeps asking is: ‘Is this bill just a fad?’ ” he said. “Having it named Caylee’s Law captures attention. But this is something legislatively we should absolutely enact.”
In Maryland, State Senator Nancy Jacobs is also proposing a bill after receiving e-mails from constituents, Reuters reported.
At a federal level, legal experts say, Caylee’s Law has little future. The Constitution prohibits Congress from intervening in a local matter like a missing child.
Not that it would matter in many cases. “Most parents don’t need a law of any kind telling them what to do when their child disappears,” Mr. Underhill said.
No comments:
Post a Comment