Do You Think Caylees Law Is a Good Idea?

Sorry but I don't think creating a law as a knee jerk reaction is a good idea.
People are upset because they feel justice was not done.
That doesn't give people a right to go out and hang someone if the verdict was not one people agree with.
It makes it all too easy for anyone to become a victim of mob rule.
It amounts to trial by media and that's not how the justice system works (or should work).

My honest opinion what type of parent or guardian doesn't notify the law enforcement when their child goes missing... they have to make a law so that parents do have to do it...I think it's very sad they have to make a law like this, that there are people out there having kids that shouldn't be...

YES!!! It's a shame that something like that needs to even be implemented!! My daughter was missing for 5-10 minutes in a child's museum and I about had a break down!

I agree with Melanie D.

Making it a law is not going to change these situations. Like myself most parents are going to notify authorities in a timely fashion.

This law will not deter these monsters from anything. Only from proloning the enevitable, even longer.

Morally, yes I agree with the law...legally I don't think it will help.

And yes I understand it will make it harder for them in the courtroom, but it's not a preventative law. It's an "after the fact" law.

creating a law as a knee jerk effect is rarely a good thing. They often get misapplied and innocent people get caught up, and once it is law, it can be very difficult to over turn or fix.

I'm not sure that it will make a difference and I am concerned that because it is an emotionally charged issue legislators will try to sneak something else in along with it.

I'm sorry but there's something wrong with our country when they have to pass a law to make it criminal to NOT report your child missing after an extended period of time.

This is a rare case and chances are if anything remotely close to this were to happen again, the police and prosecutors would bring the person up on other charges. (Casey Anthony wasn't charged with even half the crimes she could have, and still could be, charged with.)

ETA: In case it wasn't obvious, I think this is ridiculous and a waste of the legislatures' time.

i don't understand how its not child neglect and illegal not to call

As upsetting as the extreme high profile cases we are, it is dangerous legislating specifically for these issues. It takes a lot of money to put a law in place. You run the risk of duplication which can be used to an advantage for a lawyer on either side of a case causing at the very least distraction, time and money. I don't feel you just can legislate common sense. When you do, you get the "It isn't illegal", or "No one told me I couldln't do that" mentality. So we end up with more (Insert your favorite cuss word for idiots here) who won't think for themselves and have no moral compass.

This falls under neglect and abandonment....

making another law isn't going to stop stupid people or worse - self-absorbed people who feel their children are a hindrance or nuisance to stop them from hurting, maiming or killing them...

sorry.

Is it a good idea? Yes!

Is it STUPID that we even have to have a law like this? YES!

I can't believe our society even has to entertain the idea of a law to report children missing in a 'timely' manner. My timely manner is damn near instantaneous. 31 days is 30 days 23 hours and 59 minutes too long.

It's kind of like the state law that says it's illegal to have sexual relations with a sheep. Really? Ya think? Common sense!!!!!!

In theory, it's already a law falling under extreme neglect.

:(

There are a lot of laws that she could have or should have followed in the first place. Isn't it neglectful not to call? It is pathetic that we need a law to tell people to report their child missing. There is no minimum timeframe to report a small child missing, though you need to wait either 24 or 48 hours for an adult. I can see the point, but I'm not sure it would have done anything to change the outcome, other than give her another charge.

Yes, definitely think its a good idea. I mean what loving parent wouldn't report their child missing?? If my kid was gone, and I couldnt find him in the first 10 minutes I'd seriously be on the phone!

To me that is a red flag if you dont report your baby missing. Its wrong. Especially after a whole freaking month she didnt report her gone. So sad, and breaks my heart.

yes, but from my understanding it has to be if the parent/guardian believes that the child is in significant danger. well, to me, that leaves a lot of loopholes to be able to get through. who gets to decide if the danger is significant or not? if they took out that wording, i think that it would be even better. BTW, i live about 30 mins from where little Caylee disappeared.

Casey would have just come up with a lie for that one too . . .

Here's my look on this:
If you don't pay your light bill for 31 days.. no power! if you don't pay your water bill for 31 days.. no water! if you don't return a movie you rented for 31 days.. you pay for that movie! if you don't report your child missing for 31 days, what happens?? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?????? What a joke!

Absolutely!! If you KNOW your child is missing, i think the question is why WOULDNT someone report a missing child?!? Unless they didnt know their kid was actually missing, i.e. they were supposed to be at a friend or family's place, on their way home from school, maybe hanging out with friends (if old enough to do these things by themselves)... but im sure there would be some kind of time frame. But as far a two year old child goes, i dont understand why anyone would not report them missing. Even if you have done NOTHING wrong, i think if someone doesn't report their child missing after so long, it does say something as to what kind of parent they are as well. Not necessarily a murderer or abusive, but probably neglectful and therefore should be punished.

I am not usually in favor of additional laws in our lives...
I also cannot imagine TOO MANY instances where someone would NOT be calling the authorities in the case of a missing child!
This is an example of society catering to the lowest common denominator.

Yes! There is definitely something wrong with that girl for not reporting Caylee missing sooner. Smells like rotten fish to me! There is more than one liar in that family!

I think the lying to police law should be the one that is changed more than this. It's common sense to report a child missing, these things dont happen everyday so I believe it's a waste of time to legislate it.

It's their own fault-police won't even consider a person "missing" unless they have been so for 24 hours. All those parents begging and pleading "something" isn't right. My child wouldn't run away, my child has never run away from home-yet they failed to listen.
Then you have the ones like Caylee's mom...........so I think it's premature and I also think they did it to themselves. I also agree what is considered a "timely" manner. CPR is performed differently on different age groups and each child is different too as well as the situation. I think alot of innocent people would adversely affected -we can't forsee the future so honestly its hard to say. Sometimes I wonder why their aren't stricter laws for other things whereas other areas I wonder now that is just dumb...........to each his own I guess.

Ya know the only way to really make a change is to contact your state reps and bring your concerns to their attention. On line petitions do nothing but make the people who sign it feel good about themselves for taking nano seconds out of their lives.

i signed the petition already. i think it should be a federal law/crime about not reporting a missing child from day one!

I think it's a good law in theory, but that the cases it will apply to are vanishingly rare.

Constitutionally speaking, I do not think it should be federal law, but appropriately falls into the jurisdiction of the states.

I think it is a good idea and do support it. I think its a shame when it is necessary. I agree that it isn't going to change anything as to protecting the child but it will help insure the parent can be prosecuted if necessary.

I just read other responses and saw some that indicated that is was a bad idea because it took the parent's judgement away, limited options, and/or because you can't report someone missing for 24 hours. First of all, you still have parental judgement and the same options as before...it is ok to allow a child to go camping with family or friends but once the parent was told of the child being missing they would need to do the responsbile thing and report it (most parents would do this anyway). It would require a parent to report their child missing if the child was not returned on time and they hadn't been in contact to know the child was fine and on their way home. Young children can be considered missing long before the 24 hour mark...maybe not a teen but definately a toddler.

In this particular case, I think ALL would agree that it was not reasonable to not report a toddler as missing for a month. It was not reasonable if all the "lies" had been true and it was not reasonable if death had been accidentaly...that is why so many are outraged!

Yes! Thank you for posting the link!

I think it's an excellent idea. All for it. Even though it should be common sense but they are trying to avoid another Casey Anthony occurance. They would have been able to charge her more than just lieing if there was something like that already in place.

Yes I do.....signed it !~~

Yes it should!!! I just posted this to my Facebook as well. Thanks for alerting me to this petition!

No, This should not become the law.
It scares me that our government is so quick to jump on the bandwagon to make a new law like this, and our people are so willing to see it happen. This smacks of Orwell and Huxley.
What's next?

I do and I signed the petition earlier. Its not just a 'feel good act', this is working to get this on the federal level, and 4 states are already working on a version of this. If someone could get charged with child endangerment for driving drunk with kids in the car, why should they get off scott free for not reporting their child is MISSING for 31 days??! I love Kg's perspective on this! The 24 hours proposed for this is not unreasonable.

There was a case in Aurora, CO a few years back that a little girl was missing for about 2 years before she was reported her missing. The father and his gf tried to claim she ran off that day when she had been gone for a couple years. her remains were never found. Another incident about a year ago in Castle Rock CO that a girl went missing and was found dead 6 months later and no one reported it! These are local cases that I heard on the news, they just didn't get the notority like the Anthony case.

It is a sorry state of affairs when a law has to be passed that will make it
a felony if you do not report a child missing. What mother (except Casey)
would not report a child missing. I think every one on this board would be
hysterical if their child was missing for 20 seconds. What is our country
coming to? If someone is going to do something to their child, they will
not stop and think "oh there is a law against it". I do not think the law will
prevent this from happening again.

There's too many variables. The obvious is that it would be so rare of an occurence for someone to do what Casey did that mandating it seems like a waste of time. Also, the age of the child may be a variable as well. If my 16 year old was late by a half an hour I would not freak out, but if I had a 5 year old I would be beside myself within a few minutes. If a law were to be made, it would be difficult to put a timeframe on it. Clearly, waiting 31 days for a toddler or a child of any age is unfathomable, but what should the timeframe be? Like someone said, I might not know my child is missing if I think they are at the daycare like usual, or I'm not sure what time the study session or whatever is over so I don't know exactly when to expect my child. At some point it should be labeled criminal activity, but it's hard to define that point given the way reality works.