As many Americans are still outraged over the verdict in the Casey Anthony case, an Upstate lawmaker is one of several pushing legislation that would punish parents for not notifying police if their child goes missing. Senator Mike Fair, a Republican from Greenville, is chairman of the children's committee of the state legislature. Fair says the committee is currently drafting a version of "Caylee's Law", an idea gaining momentum in several states.
The law would require parents to notify law enforcement immediately if their child were to go missing. In the Anthony case, deputies were told 31 days after Caylee Anthony was last seen alive.
Fair says attornies with the Children's Law Center are looking at the legislation, and it could take a "couple of weeks" before a finalized version is ready.
"I say push it through," says grandparent Rachel Smith. "Push it through as fast as they can."
Parent Brittany Whyde agrees. "In 48 hours, if someone doesn't report their child missing, they should go to jail. In 48 hours, they could be gone!"
But Senator David Thomas, also from Greenville, says the law may not solve the issue. "If it's simply a reporting bill that's not going to solve the problem," Thomas says. "Then the bad person, or the person that killed the child simply gets around a reporting requirement by going ahead and reporting the child missing."
Thomas says he would rather like to see neglect penalities increased, when the death of a child is involved. In the Anthony case, the jury did not find enough evidence to convict on first degree murder or manslaughter charges. Thomas says, with a higher neglect penalty, they might have had something to fall back on.
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