Legislative Update: New Child Abuse Bill
Posted on August 19, 2008
Filed Under Child Abuse, Drugs |
Assembly Bill 116, introduced by Assembly-member Greg Aghazarian, would alter California’s current child abuse laws.
This bill would provide that any parent, guardian, or caregiver of a minor child who knowingly and unlawfully consumes, smokes, inhales, ingests, or otherwise uses a specified controlled substance, if the act occurs in the immediate presence of, or is witnessed by, a minor child under his or her care, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years for this child abuse.
This bill would provide that if probation is granted for this offense,the court shall, as a condition of probation place the defendant in a drug treatment program, as specified.
The new law makes doing drugs in or around children a form of child abuse as it endangers the child’s life, either by the possibility of the child ingesting/inhaling the substance or simply by putting the child’s welfare at risk.
There was a case in October of last year wherein in a couple who had taken methamphetamine were accused of shaking their baby so badly that it had nine brain injuries. AB 116 is designed to prevent such crimes and punish those who commit abuse of their child.
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