Child Endangerment in Criminal Law

Child endangerment is a criminal offense that involves the subjection of minor children to inappropriate or dangerous situations. It is not the same as child abuse, which involves direct harm to children, but carries a similar penalty in the American judicial system.

Often, parents and others responsible for children break child endangerment laws without realizing that their behavior is criminal. For example, a father who has too many drinks while he is watching his four-year-old son could be prosecuted for child endangerment because he was inebriated while he was responsible for a child. Other examples might include exposing children to illegal drugs, pornography, firearms, chemicals, criminal activity and domestic violence. The purpose of child endangerment laws is to keep children from witnessing adult or illegal activity, and to protect them from situations in which they might get hurt.

Most child endangerment cases are discovered during the investigation of other crimes. For example, people who operate methamphetamine labs out of their homes often have children, and when the meth labs are discovered, the owners are additionally charged with child endangerment. On a lesser scale, parents who are pulled over for speeding can also be charged with child endangerment if infants are not secured in car seats or if children are not wearing their seat belts.

Another controversial area of child endangerment law concerns the decision of parents who neglect to provide their children with medical treatment for religions reasons. Christian Science parents, for example, believe in the healing power of prayer and do not seek medical attention when their children fall ill or become injured.

In some states, parents cannot be charged with child endangerment because of religious beliefs, but recent statistical analyses might change those laws in the near future. For example, a young boy in Utah died last year because he had juvenile diabetes and his condition was not monitored by a professional. When the medical examiner found that the child was suffering from diabetes, an investigation was launched.

Cases of child endangerment are handled by a wide variety of professionals, depending on where and how the endangerment was discovered. Medical personnel who notice signs of child endangerment can call CPS (Child Protective Services) to request an investigation by a case worker. Police officers, school officials and the courts are also involved, which can make child endangerment cases difficult to prosecute.

Individuals who are convicted of child endangerment face imprisonment, fines and loss of custody of the children they have endangered. Teachers, day care supervisors, sports coaches and even the children are questioned about activities that take place in the home before a trial takes place. Unfortunately, many children deny that they are abused or endangered out of fear of angering their parents (or another abuser) and many child endangerment cases never see justice.