What’s done is done.
Caylee Anthony is gone. Casey Anthony, a congenital liar, will only answer to her conscience– and her agent. George Anthony, devastated in public by incest charges, could contemplate suicide again. Jose Baez can anticipate a celebrity-mouthpiece bonanza.
But it’s not all a lamentable legacy.
The spent outrage over the Casey Anthony acquittal has resulted in nationwide proposals — a product of online petitions gone viral and more than a million electronic signatures — for a “Caylee’s Law.” There will be variations (age, time frame) on a theme, but essentially they will enable prosecutors to bring felony charges against parents who do not report missing children quickly enough. The unconscionably negligent will be held accountable.
Florida is among 18 states currently considering a version of “Caylee’s Law.” State Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, is sponsoring Florida’s proposal.
Two points.
First, it’s a sad commentary that a law is actually necessary to prod parents into doing what they obviously should. Most, of course, don’t need such motivation, but Casey Anthony is Exhibit A for the tragic exception. Lives, no matter how few, and resources, easily over-extended, are at stake.
Second, states have to be careful that they don’t over-react to the Anthony case, a singular tragedy wrapped in pathological dysfunction within a nightmare.
Rep. Plakon’s proposal would make it a felony for a parent–or other caregiver–to fail to report a child younger than 12 missing after 48 hours. That’s more than reasonable. That’s also nearly 700 fewer hours than Casey Anthony took.
It also would make it a felony to not report a child’s death or “location of a child’s corpse” to police within two hours of the death. That’s more problematic, given the likelihood of some scenarios being chaotic and traumatic. Benumbing shock and grief can skew normal responses.
On balance, the Anthony case has reminded us that the innocent need all the protection society can muster. This isn’t big government meddling in lives; this is responsible government helping to protect them.