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Lawmakers Plan Caylee Anthony Bill
July 7, 2011
Lawmakers are already planning a Caylee Anthony Bill that will make it a felony in Florida for a parent or guardian to fail to report the disappearance of a child within a “timely manner” when the parent or guardian should have known that the child was in likely danger.
Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, issued a press release on Wednesday saying he plans to file legislation, while area House members Doug Broxson (R-Gulf Breeze), Clay Ingram (R-Pensacola) and Clay Ford (R-Gulf Breeze) all said Wednesday that they will cosponsor the bill.
Hager plans to call the bill “Caylee’s Law” — a nod to the death of two-year-old Caylee Anthony of Orlando. Caylee’s mother Casey Anthony’s trial resulted in a controversial not guilty verdict on Tuesday. Casey Anthony did not report her child missing for 30 days, one of the key pieces of evidence the prosecution team used against her.
“What we witnessed in the case of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony was truly tragic. Placing a law on the books requiring parents and guardians to report missing children who are in significant danger in a timely manner will ensure that parents are held accountable for their actions. It will also assure that we put justice on the side of those among us who are most vulnerable, and finally, it will put an end to the kind of irresponsible and outrageous behavior we observed with Caylee’s mother,” Hager said in a statement.
“It is a shame that we have to pass laws to encourage basic parental care” Broxson said. “The House of Representatives and I hold a firm commitment to continually advancing public safety and protecting our most vulnerable citizens from harm.”
“Loss of precious time immediately after the disappearance of a child, seriously and negatively impacts the ability of law enforcement to help that child and it is critical that we give them the tools to help our children,” Ford said.
“Something clearly needs to be done to hold those responsible for our children accountable for their actions. It is inexcusable to fail to report the disappearance of a child for as long a period of time as Casey Anthony did. I am proud of Representative Hager for taking the lead on this important issue,” Ingram said. “The death of Caylee Anthony was a real tragedy. Whether or not the State could prove murder, the simple fact of the matter is that Casey Anthony seriously neglected her responsibilities as a mother in not reporting her daughter’s disappearance.”
The bill has not been officially filed because what constitutes a “timely” report is still being worked out, according to an aide to Hager.
Comments
29 Responses to “Lawmakers Plan Caylee Anthony Bill”
i think casey anthony got a way with murder but that is our legal system. why does it seem that people with money seem to be able to pay their way out of anything. that beautiful little angel has to pay with her life so her irresponsible mother could have one.we need to start teaching some morals in this country.maybe we need to go back to ancient times and start having more public executions maybe people would think twice about commiting a crime.take all the crimminals out o9f jail give them a flight to whatever war is going on if they make it back they have there freedom if not we have saved some tax payers money. why should they get special treatment when we have families and children going to bed hungry every night. WE SUPPOSE TO BE THE RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WE NEED TO START ACTING LIKE IT !!!!!!!!!
Thank You so much Representative Hager! I hope the law will be passed before this happens to another child. A good name for this law would be “Caylee’s Law”. Just should of already been their, we have lost to many children and find the answers. They go unsolved
right on garry!
Another Law? What for? This is because if we can’t kill them in court we can atleast hang them for life. NO MORE LAWS. The distrct attorney should of put this case together better. Instead he walked in there with a story thinking he could con the jury into putting this women to death.
I agree that this women knows the truth. The D.A. had no proof that the mother killed that child. Respect the jury everyone. You and I do not know the truth yet. But the day will come when we will.
But to create more laws so we can stop the OJ Simpson’s and the Anthony’s because the states failed to bring the truth to the table is NOT the answer.
Caylee’s death was senseless. No one in the family contacted the police or FBI upon her absence. I find this appalling. If anything good can come out of this, a law to protect our innocent children is a start!!!
i am praying for little caylee’s family
Please,
All the people commenting how this is a waste of politician’s time apparently do not know how our system of government works. Laws result from people failing to do the right thing. Legislators are also known as “lawmakers.” Does any one need to be explained why? Legislators are doing what they are suppossed to do, create laws that stop irresponsible acts and guilty people from getting away with this type of crime. That is their job in case you don’t know. Are we supposed to let people police themselves? Please read a little before you post something that is nonsense for everyone to read. Laws to protect children in all states have come out of tragedy. Is it better for lawmakers to sit around collecting a paycheck and not do anything to protect our children from this type of abusers? How is that going to honor Caylee’s ultimate sacrifice?
Now maybe some good will come from
Caylee’s senseless murder !
We need justic for little Calylee! I agree we need a law for children.
I agree with this law to be. We need justice for all children. I also agree it should be called Calyees law.
Of COURSE this is a needed law. No, it won’t make people do the right thing. You cannot legislate behavior. But once you do arrest them, you will have something to charge them with and perhaps they won’t walk free like Casey Anthony will next week.
This should not even have to be a law. It should be a felony if the child is not reported missing within the first 24 hrs. like any missing person case. Not reporting for 31 days is an admission of guilt, at least for something “very” untoward. Had I been on the jury this would have been a “hung” jury instead of a not-guilty. Scott Peterson was found guilty in CA with no actual cause of death for the Mother. It was obvious how the baby died in that case. It’s obvious little Caylee did not kill herself, put electrical tape over her mouth, wrap herself up, put herself in a trash bag and dump herself in the woods. So much evidence that went ignored. Beyond a shadow of a doubt? I have no doubt.
What an injustice for this little girl.
My comforting thought on the day of the jury decision is that I know she is in the arms of Jesus and she has no remembrance of some evil person doing this to her and I believe He allowed her spirit to leave her body before she suffered any pain.
not only is this more govt, ie wasteful nonsense, but it is extremely distasteful, if not downright disgusting. shame. shame on you politicians for exploiting that sweet little angel’s death to push through your laws. shame on you for being all about less government blah blah blah when it suits you, then borrowing “nanny state” tactics to burden us down with more useless laws when it puts a political feather in your caps. shame on you for thinking law abiding sane productive citizens (that the majority of us are) would need such a law. “how will it put an end to the kind of irresponsible and outrageous behavior we observed with Caylee’s mother,” is this law going to miraculously infuse all citizens with a do the right thing mentality? shame on you politicians.
This is law is a waste of time, and is just a feel good law for politicians. (Look, we care and are doing something.) If people are going to do wrong, there is not a law made that will stop them. Murder is illegal, yet it still happens because the people committing murder, don’t care what the law says. Same for this law. Any decent person will report their child missing right away. We don’t need more government in our lives. You can pass all the laws you want, but it will not make an indecent/criminal person lawabiding.
It is so sad that we have to legislate human affections/responsibilities.. If I were the mother of a two year old it wouldn’t have taken me a month to report my child missing. I would have panicked in the first three minutes, and DONE something. Called on neighgors, friends, family, etc. I KNOW I couldn’t have waited 24 hours let alone 720 HOURS or 30 days to do something. JUSTICE IS BLIND – BUT GOD IS NOT, The truth will be known one day, and HE will judge accordingly.
This should already be illegal!! YOU are responsible for your child. If your child is missing(you go into a store and turn around, child is not there; you go swimming, child goes under and doesn’t come up; child is supposed to be with babysitter, go to pick child up, child is not there) all of these are examples of missing children….YOU SHOULD REPORT A MISSING CHILD WHETHER IT’S JUST ONE MINUTE OR ONE HOUR! If you fail to report your child missing, you should be held responsible. IT IS YOUR CHILD FOR GOODNESS SAKE!! THIS IS SO SICKENING!!!
Jack is right, and I add just another charge an over ambitious prosecutor can throw at the wall.
I agree with Alice harris.
in my opinion, its an appropriate law, given what we have just witnessed…”timely” is an ambiguous word……”MAXIMUM 24 hours” is better…..the proposed law can further include “reasonable exceptions to” reporting the child “missing/in danger” beyond that point, subject to the sole determination of law enforcement/courts…this will give the defence very little wiggle room when charges are being set…BUT, its the penalty for violating this law that is also very important…especially, if the chld ultimately dies or is harmed (REGARDLESS of WHO is determined to have harmed/killed the child), the parent(s) or guardian should be dealt a significantly severe penalty for failure to report.
Good!!! Too bad this was not already law before this case. But then again most mothers would have called the police within minutes/seconds of realizing that their child is missing.
Hoping that this law gets passed and that it is never broken.
You can’t legislate good sense or responsible behavior. This protects no one. It just provides a path to another charge when caught.
Put Caylee’s Law in every state in the U.S. Make the loss of one be the protector of future children who suffer at the neglect of any caregiver. Apparently we need a review group of pyschiatrists and attorneys that can define any nuance of defiant behaviors to cover our bases. They should also attach different levels of punishment equivalent to the charges/crime related to the child since some may be misdemeanors and some may be felony results.
Thak You so much Representative Hager! I hope the law will be passed before this happens to another child. A good name for this law would be “Caylee’s Law”.
The last two comments on here really make me wonder about their state of mind. Why on earth should a parent not report their child missing in a timely manner? And why on earth should it not be law? Casey Anthony stated, among many other things, that Caylee was taken from her at gunpoint from two men and “Zanny”. Who, in their right mind or not, would not have reported their child kidnapped? Casey Anthony did not because she knew where her child was all along. Her defense was that Caylee drowned and her father covered it up. Again, who would not call 911 and seek help for their child? I don’t believe either of these lies. I am not for more laws but this is one that makes perfect sense. If your child is missing, report them. That simple. Where do you draw the line? Definitely not where it involves children and the people who obviously cannot take care of them.
Less government…not more. Where do you draw the line?
This is yet another crass, exploitive reaction by legislators to make political points from a tragedy. A useless law, crafted by politicians for their own purposes. Ridiculous, as so much lawmaking is, and exploitive. I’m feeling disgusted, again, by our elected representatives.
A good law to have on the books. It is a sad day, when a mother and her parents, conspire to conceal such a horrible act. I am confident the Lord will issue justice for little Caylee.
This is the best thing I have heard in a long time. This should have been in place a long time ago. Now any “Good time Momma” or “Dead beat Dad” will face the consequences.
All I can say it is finally good to see something good being done in Tallahassee