Image: CrimeDime.com
Ryan Murphy died because his mother left him in a hot car where, at two years old, he could not get out and eventually died from the heat. What if, instead, she had been holding him and tripped at the top of a flight of stairs? What is the difference between accident and murder? Where do we draw the lines between tragic loss, involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, and intentional homicide?
Because the loss of a child through something so utterly preventable is difficult to take, punitive responses are hardly surprising. But to be prosecuted for felony homicide – as so many of these parents are – is nothing more than an emotion-based, knee-jerk punitive response. Murder involves intent, mens rea, the guilty mind, the ability to conceive of and intend to carry out harm. As horrible as these deaths are, they are not about intent. They are, at best, about negligence. Even then, I question where to draw the line in the sand that separates negligence from accident, who gets to draw the line, and for whom.
And what does it mean to serve justice in these cases?
In most cases, the child is survived by grieving families, by parents who will struggle to maintain a marriage, by siblings who must grow and develop emotionally in the wake of tragedy. Does justice mean burdening the parents with the costs, both financial and emotional, of mounting a legal defense? Do surviving children deserve to lose both their brother or sister AND their mom or dad through incarceration?
While these deaths are rare (estimated to be about 38 per year by kidsandcars.org), how they are handled deserves more careful attention. Gene Weingarten’s reporting on this topic earned a Pulitzer Prize. It is difficult reading, to be certain, but in covering Karen Murphy’s case, Weingarten challenges us to consider the complicated relationships between tragedies and crimes, as well as the role of intent and the criminal justice system.
Most importantly, though, there are easy solutions to this problem. A blog supporting Karen Murphy suggests at least one that is simple, free, and effective. Day cares, like elementary, middle, and high schools, should call parents of absent children. To check in. To make sure that nothing is amiss. To prevent, even if only a handful, these terrible tragic deaths and the compounded grief caused by the criminal justice system response.
Michelle B. Araneta
March 30, 2012
I don’t have any answers to this. I only have more questions the biggest one of all is this: Why do we spend years and years going to school, learning to put work responsibility first, learning to find out what career we would like to be involved in, learning about this and that without learning about the basic tools of relationships and how to prioritize living life.
We learn how to increase our IQ, but the majority of us are left with our EQ way below what it should be. I know that many would argue that that is the responsibility of the family, but I wonder how schools and educations can use the motto of, “preparing your children for the world”?
We need to start teaching our children, even our adults the importance of what REALLY matters. Money, jobs, homes can come and go … but children are blessings that can never be replaced.
CrimeCents
March 31, 2012
Michelle, I agree that we don’t spend enough time in school talking about the things in life that *really* matter, like how to be a parent, what healthy relationships look like, and how the criminal justice system works. I suspect that some parents would really object to these topics being taught in school, but that the majority would think it was a positive thing to do.
neverreadit
April 2, 2012
This is a really good post: I agree with your opinion on not burdening families any further and it makes me wonder why more people can’t see it that way, instead of always looking for the “worst case scenario” of being understanding towards people who have made a tragic mistake. However I think this is one of many examples of legal debates which will never have a satisfactory outome for everyone.
Thanks for the link, too-look forward to reading that one
CrimeCents
April 2, 2012
Thanks, neverreadit. While there are certainly some parents who are guilty of criminal negligence, some tragedies are just accidents. These are not the same things, and we owe it to the surviving family members to do a better job of not reacting so harshly and adding to their grief. And no, there’s no answer that will make everyone happy.