Petition Alert: Create "Caylee's Law"

Submitted by Matt on Fri, 2011-07-08 20:03

Petition here. Letter:

'Greetings,

On July 5, 2011, at 1:15 pm CST, Casey Anthony was found not guilty of first degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee Anthony. The only charges she now faces are four counts of falsifying police reports, each of which only carries a 1 year prison term. Since she has been in jail since August 2008, she will be out of jail ENTIRELY too soon.

I'm writing to propose that a new law be put into effect making it a felony for a parent, legal guardian, or caretaker to not notify law enforcement of the disappearance of a child within 24 hours, so proper steps can be taken to find that child before it's too late.

This way there will be no more cases like Casey Anthony's in the courts, and no more innocent children will have to go without justice.

The case of Caylee Anthony was tragic, and there is no reason for another case like this one to hit the courts. Let's do what is necessary to prevent another case like this from happening.'

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Comments

I hate to be critical of this as it seems to have good intentions, but really it just seems like more useless laws. Any good parent would notify authorities if their young child was legitimately missing. Only those involved in the crime would not report it.

Also situations are different for older kids and teenagers. Often there is a misunderstanding as to when the child is due home (or child just being defiant) but eventually the child comes home. At what point would parents be charged with a felony?

The chances of another Casey Anthony situation is rare, and besides people like her will just come up with more lies to cover their tracks. If they are willing to commit murder they will not be afraid of some small charge that is difficult to prove.

Quote: "Let's do what is necessary to prevent another case like this from happening."

Does anyone think a law like this would have changed anything in the Casey Anthony case? And I don't think our courts are filled with similar cases.

Sorry, I just get tired of lawmakers spending time on stuff that is unlikley to happen and dictating what parents do regarding common sense.

Besides Caylee wasn't "missing", she was with "the nanny" according to Casey......

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Submitted by Kris on Sat, 2011-07-09 01:33

I agree, Kris.

Such laws will not help the Caylee's of the world. Instead, they will be used against parents who are simply caught up in unfortunate family situations. There were multiple times when I left my house for more than 24-hours when I was an older child. While my mother had her problems, this doesn't mean she should have been charged with a felony.

Who doesn't want to help Caylee, even if posthumously. But laws like this cause many of the problems we have today. They may be well intentioned, but they end up being twisted and turned into legal actions far from their original intent.

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Submitted by shawn on Sat, 2011-07-09 04:09