What punishment when child dies in hot car?
Discussion
Appologies if a similar thread has been posted previously.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/26/lef...
My current understanding is that punishment can serve one or more of 3 purposes:
1. Punish the person in question for what they did.
2. Deter the person in question from repeating the same bahaviour in the future.
3. By transmission of details, deter others from repeating the same bahaviour in the future.
Imho:
1. Is not useful. Nobody has the power to change the past.
2. Only the person in question can know for sure, if the direct consequences of their action(s) are enough to deter them from repeat behaviour. In the case above, I think the chances are that no further consequences would be useful in this respect (my opinion).
3. It's always a benefit to society to remind the rest of us of consequences. However, I'm personally more likely to pay attention to a cause/effect that seems reasonable than to one that is not. If a punishment seems to me out of proportion to the crime, I'm more likely to ignore & forget it. If I can see the relevance, I'm more likely to remember.
I'd be interested in learning from the BIB/legal bods views on this.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/26/lef...
My current understanding is that punishment can serve one or more of 3 purposes:
1. Punish the person in question for what they did.
2. Deter the person in question from repeating the same bahaviour in the future.
3. By transmission of details, deter others from repeating the same bahaviour in the future.
Imho:
1. Is not useful. Nobody has the power to change the past.
2. Only the person in question can know for sure, if the direct consequences of their action(s) are enough to deter them from repeat behaviour. In the case above, I think the chances are that no further consequences would be useful in this respect (my opinion).
3. It's always a benefit to society to remind the rest of us of consequences. However, I'm personally more likely to pay attention to a cause/effect that seems reasonable than to one that is not. If a punishment seems to me out of proportion to the crime, I'm more likely to ignore & forget it. If I can see the relevance, I'm more likely to remember.
I'd be interested in learning from the BIB/legal bods views on this.
Mine hasn't the value of a BiB's opinion 
but it's an opinion nonetheless.
If you make point 3 too relaxed, the crime of manslaughter can't exist, which to my mind leaving a child to die in a hot car must be.
Who could forget that people/animals die in hot cars? If it's your own child then maybe it's natural selection in action, but it's rather harsh.
I think the human mind's own conscious would be more than punishment enough in most cases, but shouldn't future children be protected from the person's stupidity?
Edit: just read the article: how could you forget you've got your child in the backseat?! For 7 hours?! I'm paranoid about leaving my dog in the car for 5 minutes on cold winter day if the sun is even vaguely shining.
but it's an opinion nonetheless.If you make point 3 too relaxed, the crime of manslaughter can't exist, which to my mind leaving a child to die in a hot car must be.
Who could forget that people/animals die in hot cars? If it's your own child then maybe it's natural selection in action, but it's rather harsh.
I think the human mind's own conscious would be more than punishment enough in most cases, but shouldn't future children be protected from the person's stupidity?
Edit: just read the article: how could you forget you've got your child in the backseat?! For 7 hours?! I'm paranoid about leaving my dog in the car for 5 minutes on cold winter day if the sun is even vaguely shining.
Edited by putridp on Monday 30th July 21:12
putridp said:
...If you make point 3 too relaxed...
I agree - and I believe it is always necessary to have an explicit deterrent for others. My point is that if you make it too harsh, it will be a less effective deterrent than if it was more reasonable. Just wondering if other folks saw it the same way. What a sickening article 
I can be absent minded, but I can't possibly imagine forgetting the existence of the most precious thing in my life sitting behind me. A horrible way to die, baked to death after being abandoned by your parents.
The answer the original post surely depends on the circumstances. If the parent "convienently" forgot because they didn't want to deal with the responsibility any more then clearly it's murder. If they were genuinly absent minded/ignorant enough to leave their own child in a baking hot car, then they will already be experiencing something far worse than any prision could inflict.
I can be absent minded, but I can't possibly imagine forgetting the existence of the most precious thing in my life sitting behind me. A horrible way to die, baked to death after being abandoned by your parents.The answer the original post surely depends on the circumstances. If the parent "convienently" forgot because they didn't want to deal with the responsibility any more then clearly it's murder. If they were genuinly absent minded/ignorant enough to leave their own child in a baking hot car, then they will already be experiencing something far worse than any prision could inflict.
The article indicates that many more children have died in this way since we started placing rear-facing child seats on the back seat (presumably because in most cars you can't switch off the passenger airbag). I wonder how many lives have been saved in accidents vs. lives lost because of forgetting the child? A sad but interesting piece of evidence in support of the law of unintended consequences.
he will live with this mistake the rest of his days-prison is no place for him because unlike speeding or doing some similar stupid thing no one thinks damn I must not leave the baby in the car for 7 hours.
Whilst up at canary wharf in the car park a while back i saw my friends kids all sitting in the car. His wife had nipped into waitrose supposedly for 10 mins. He was rather defensive and im confident it never happened again. There are 4 billion people out there-bound to be a few idiots
Whilst up at canary wharf in the car park a while back i saw my friends kids all sitting in the car. His wife had nipped into waitrose supposedly for 10 mins. He was rather defensive and im confident it never happened again. There are 4 billion people out there-bound to be a few idiots
burwoodman said:
he will live with this mistake the rest of his days-prison is no place for him because unlike speeding or doing some similar stupid thing no one thinks damn I must not leave the baby in the car for 7 hours.
Whilst up at canary wharf in the car park a while back i saw my friends kids all sitting in the car. His wife had nipped into waitrose supposedly for 10 mins. He was rather defensive and im confident it never happened again. There are 4 billion people out there-bound to be a few idiots
The problem is though others do. Others leave the kids at home whilst they holiday, others levae toddlers whilst they go to the shops for half an hour. This is not the first or the last.Whilst up at canary wharf in the car park a while back i saw my friends kids all sitting in the car. His wife had nipped into waitrose supposedly for 10 mins. He was rather defensive and im confident it never happened again. There are 4 billion people out there-bound to be a few idiots
Whilst I have some sympathy. If you choose to have 12 children then you choose to have that responsibility.
burwoodman said:
he will live with this mistake the rest of his days-prison is no place for him because unlike speeding or doing some similar stupid thing no one thinks damn I must not leave the baby in the car for 7 hours.
So leaving your child to cook to death in the family car because of your negligence is not as bad as speeding?Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!!
some kind of equivalent to the sex offenders register for people unfit to have, or care for, or be near children.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff