The big local criminal trial here in the Portland area has been of the Neagley parents, who were charged with negligent homicide for letting their 16-year-old son die of an untreated blocked urinary tract without seeking any medical care. The family is part of the Followers of Christ church, which promotes faith healing and rejects medical care. They were convicted today, and the Oregonian article suggests that the likely sentencing range is 16-18 months.
I got to wondering, if both of them go off to prison, what typically happens to their home and possessions? Maybe they have enough savings to cover 1 1/2 years worth of mortgage payments, and someone can look over the home while they're serving their sentences, assuming they are sent to prison. But what if they can't keep up the mortgage? The house could be sold in a short sale, though that would usually be at quite a loss. What about their stuff? Would they be forced to rent storage space?
I suppose the lesson here is, don't commit crimes, but if you do, definitely don't commit crimes with your spouse!
Can't think of any argument on the parents' behalf. Although with regard to "what happens to their home" (or, if they have more children, "what happens to their children"), don't courts sometimes stagger the sentences (or perhaps, if the parents agreed to do so, could one agree to take the hit for both)?
In any event, the case opens the broader libertarian (parents' rights) vs. child abuse/neglect issues of just how much harm a parent should be (and is legally) permitted to do a child and when "the state" should/must step in to stop it (or, as here, punish the parents) -- harm physically, nutritionally, medically, emotionally, intellectually, psychologically, environmentally, etc.
Posted by: Nick | February 03, 2010 at 08:09 AM