Re:Making It Legal to Play Outside: “Reasonable Childhood In...
by ecshafer on Thursday February 23, 2023 @10:49PM
(#34920528)
The sequence of events that is wrong here, is that if a person calls 911 claiming that there is child abuse going on, and the "child abuse" is a child playing outside or walking to the park alone, the person should be fined. There is a difference between "I saw little Johnny outside for hours in the cold, I think there is child abuse." or "I saw bruises all over little johnny, I think there is child abuse." and "A child was walking outside alone, there is child abuse".
Re:Making It Legal to Play Outside: “Reasonable Childhood In...
by HWR_14 on Friday February 24, 2023 @12:04AM
(#34921009)
Of course what happened in this case wasn't child abuse. But the reporter didn't say "I saw them playing outside". They said "the child is being neglected". Yes, it turns out the reasons for the person calling saying so were wrong. But if the child wasn't being given food or medical care it would have been reported the same way. So the government had to investigate.
Re:Making It Legal to Play Outside: “Reasonable Childhood In...
by notch898a on Thursday February 23, 2023 @11:16PM
(#34920701)
If someone makes a false claim that results in personal expenses for me that sounds like libel or defamation. Allow me to find out who they were so I can sue them. I value my time at least for say $1000 per CPS visit and $300 per hour I have to spend dealing with the investigation they knowingly initiated with their libel.
The laws hiding the identity of people abusing children by making these trumped up reports should be re-evaluated.
Re:Making It Legal to Play Outside: “Reasonable Childhood In...
by HWR_14 on Friday February 24, 2023 @12:09AM
(#34921044)
> If someone makes a false claim that results in personal expenses for me that sounds like libel or defamation.
Then you don't know what libel or defamation is. But, yes, if someone makes a false report against you and that results in injuries to your reputation you can totally sue them for slander, libel or defamation (depending on how the report was filed).
As far as I know, no laws hide the identity of people reporting crimes. However, for very good reasons, we allow people to report crimes anonymously.
Other than the person calling 911, who do you want to do something different?
You want the first responder to dismiss the case because they don't think it matters? A lot of abuse went on for years because of that.
You want the government to take the kid while investigating?
You want the government to just not investigate and take the kids?
You want the parents not to be worried going through the process?
I just don't know how else I would want the government to react. It was far too lax in the past in investigating credible accusations. And if we have to error on one side or the other it should be helping abused kids.