Cruelty to Children

Maryland needs to update its abuse law.

IT WAS 1874, and the only way a New York City social worker could rescue a 9-year-old girl who was being horribly abused was to get help from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. There were no laws on the books dealing with the protection of children. One has to wonder how far we've come: Today in Maryland there still are harsher penalties for neglecting a dog than for neglecting a child.

That was the revelation from the recent arrest of a woman on charges that she left her five young sons unattended in a squalid basement apartment in Prince George's County. The children were hungry and living in filth. Yet, as reported by The Post's Ruben Castaneda, the mother faces a maximum penalty of only 30 days in jail on each misdemeanor charge of leaving a child unattended. In contrast, she faces 90 days in jail on an animal cruelty charge because a dog also had been left in bad conditions. It has been established that those who abuse animals often progress to mistreating people, and that's just one of the many good reasons for having laws to protect animals. Clearly, though, the disparity here just doesn't make sense.

Maryland is the only state that doesn't have a criminal child neglect statute, according to the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse. Instead, there's a gap between its laws regarding leaving a child unattended (a provision of family law aimed at situations such as a parent leaving a child in a car) and child abuse (overt action that results in physical injury with penalties of up to 25 years incarceration). Prince George's State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey rightly sees this as a problem and says the legislature needs to act.

It's probably too late for the General Assembly to do something this year, but it shouldn't wait for another dreadful case to hit the news before it brings its laws protecting children into this century.