Criminilazation of America

I'm not sure I like the idea of criminilazation of bad mothering.

A driver reported seeing someone pick up a child from the side of Interstate 12 on Wednesday about 40 miles east of Baton Rouge and put him in a van. Authorities feared they were dealing with a kidnapping, said Jason Ard, the Livingston Parish sheriff's spokesman.


Investigators found the boy had actually been dropped off as punishment. The van traveled a short distance down the highway before the mother got out and retrieved him, Ard said. It was unclear exactly how long the child was out of the car but Ard said Friday it was probably only a few minutes.

Parents have a hard job. They get frustrated. They don't know what to do. We don't help things any by they'll go to jail if they make a bad parenting decision.

I'm pretty sure I was never put out of the car on the side of the road when I was a kid. But, you know, it's possible I was and just don't remember it. It was certianly threatened more than once.

The mother in question here didn't leave the child. She put him out of the car, parked, and walked back to pick him up. At least that's what the description sounds like what happened.

Prison time? Don't we have better things to worry about?