Question of the Day: 'Caylee's Law'

One of the most shocking aspects of the recently concluded Casey Anthony trail was that no one, including Anthony, reported Caylee Anthony missing or dead until a month after her mysterious disappearance.

Michelle Crowder of Durant Oklahoma is embarking on a mission to make the failure of reporting a missing child a federal crime. 

Crowder created a "Caylee's Law" petition, which has already become the most popular online campaign in Change.org's history. The petition has collected more than 610,040 online signatures.

The Caylee's Law petition is seeking to establish two new federal offenses:

• The failure of a parent, legal guardian, or caretaker to notify law enforcement of a missing child within 24 hours. According to Crowder, the word "caretaker" applies to anyone who is in an authoritative position over a child including camp counselors, babysitters, teachers, grandparents, parents of friends, etc. The last person in charge of a child would be the one held responsible for not notifying the authorities of the child's disappearance.
• The failure to report the death of a child within one hour of discovery.

Recently four states – New York, Florida, Oklahoma and West Virginia – have also begun the process of enacting "Caylee's Law." 

Senator Greg Ball (R, C – Patterson) announced he is calling for the creation of Caylee’s Law, a bill that would make it a crime for parents or caregivers who fail to report the death of a child.

Last week, her mother, Casey, was found “not guilty” of murdering her little girl, but she was convicted on four counts of lying to police. Anthony was sentenced to the maximum of four years in prison. Including time served, Anthony will spend 10 additional days in jail.

"We are all shocked and saddened by the outcome of this trial,” Ball said. “And while I have the utmost respect for our justice system and the right to due process, it’s unthinkable that Casey Anthony would get off with anything less than the death penalty. The outcome made most people shake their heads with disbelief and disgust, knowing that some wait on death row having been rightfully convicted with much less evidence. To think she knew of her daughter’s death and never told police, while having enough time to party the night away, lie to authorities and frequent tattoo parlors, is enough to make any caring person sick.” 

Today's Question of the Day is: "What do you think of a petition to create Caylee's Law?"

Leave your comments below.

Patch is a place where readers are welcome to become part of the conversation. We want to know what you're thinking, share your opinion and weigh in on different topics. 

Thank you for reading! You can "like" Yorktown Patch on Facebook and follow our Tweets.