Hot-car deaths deserve consistent punishment
As more and more precious children die in hot cars every summer, Tennessee lawmakers should consider steps toward making the punishment for such incidents more consistent.
An Associated Press story published in the Standard on Sunday shows the wide discrepancies in punishments.
A 43-year-old Chattanooga man was not even indicted by a grand jury for the heat-related death of his 15-month-old son. Robert Reid said he was distracted by an upcoming conference call at work and that’s why he forgot his son was in the vehicle. Court records show Reid repeatedly heard his car alarm sound but disabled it remotely from his desk after he did not see anyone around the vehicle.
Hamilton County prosecutors say they won’t pursue any more charges against Reid after the failed indictment.
The case is a stark contrast to the Jennie Bain Ducker case in Warren County. Longtime members of the community don’t have to be reminded that Ducker served 12 years in prison before being released earlier this year. Ducker’s two children died in her car after she fell asleep in a local hotel room.
The two cases mirror the wide disparities nationwide in punishing people who leave children in hot vehicles to die. A recent Associated Press analysis of such fatal incidents over the past 10 years revealed the penalties vary greatly.
‘ Mothers are treated more harshly than fathers. While mothers and fathers are charged and convicted at the same rates, moms are 26 percent more likely to serve time.
‘ Daycare workers and babysitters are jailed far less frequently than parents. And when they do go to jail, it’s for less than half the amount of time.
‘ Charges aren’t even filed in half the cases where a child is left to die. In those cases, prosecutors determine there was no criminal activity involved, only a terrible mistake.
Certainly there is no way to take the human element out of life. People are always going to make mistakes.
But there’s a clear line between forgetting the grocery list on the kitchen counter and forgetting you’ve left your child in the car. Leaving a child to die in a car is absolute negligence and it deserves punishment.
Being a parent demands a certain degree of responsibility. If you let your children play in the street, you should be charged. If you make meth in a home where children are present, you should be charged. And if you wander away with your child in a sweltering car, you should be charged ‘ every single time.
While Tennessee lawmakers are powerless to control what happens outside our borders, they can take care of business at home. There is no reason for a Warren County woman to serve 12 years for a crime while a Chattanooga man escapes punishment.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to make all parents act responsibly. However, we can ask that of our state lawmakers. They can work to make the punishments for leaving children to die in hot vehicles more consistent.