Sunday, November 13, 2005
redefining things
Over the past week I have had the opportunity to see how the law and reality don't mix.
I had a case where a six month old child had a bruise on his ass the size and shape of a hand. I had a case where a kid so didn't want to go to see his old man that he banged his head on the wall and threatened to kill either the old man or him self. I also get to deal with a scoutmaster asking a kid if he would be interested in providing or receiving oral sex.
The law in PA states that abuse is an act that causes nonaccidental injury. Recent legal decisions have eviscerated that definition so that a mother who swings a belt at her kid, trying to hit the child in the butt but connecting with the eye instead, can say that it was an accidental injury because she didn't mean to pole the child's eye out.
That's bullshit.
I think that there needs to be a movement to remove "legalese" and replace it with common sense terms in law. A nonaccidental injury doesn't mean that you meant to cause a different injury, it means you acted in such a way that a purposeful act caused injury.
And don't get me started on that "I didn't mean to hit the kid-I just did" crap. It takes intention for a person to swing an arm hard enough to give a kid a black eye.
I had a case where a six month old child had a bruise on his ass the size and shape of a hand. I had a case where a kid so didn't want to go to see his old man that he banged his head on the wall and threatened to kill either the old man or him self. I also get to deal with a scoutmaster asking a kid if he would be interested in providing or receiving oral sex.
The law in PA states that abuse is an act that causes nonaccidental injury. Recent legal decisions have eviscerated that definition so that a mother who swings a belt at her kid, trying to hit the child in the butt but connecting with the eye instead, can say that it was an accidental injury because she didn't mean to pole the child's eye out.
That's bullshit.
I think that there needs to be a movement to remove "legalese" and replace it with common sense terms in law. A nonaccidental injury doesn't mean that you meant to cause a different injury, it means you acted in such a way that a purposeful act caused injury.
And don't get me started on that "I didn't mean to hit the kid-I just did" crap. It takes intention for a person to swing an arm hard enough to give a kid a black eye.
