This Child's Babysitter Abused Him But Won't Be Charged For the Craziest Reason

[Umka36 781]

"An Oregon couple dared to go on a date night, leaving their one-year-old son in what they thought were the capable hands of their babysitter.

The sitter admitted to abusing Jacob, but the sitter can't be prosecuted due to a ruling in Oregon that states the victim has to be able to definitively prove that the mistreatment was intentional, which is difficult to do when the victim is a baby who can't speak...."

http://www.redbookmag.com/life/news/a44321/baby-injured-babysitter-case/

[smilesammich 10,727]

wow oregon. really?

To convict a suspected child abuser of felony assault or criminal mistreatment, the article explained, prosecutors must prove that the victim suffered a "physical injury" under Oregon law. That means proving the child experienced "substantial pain."

But appellate rulings have made that hard to prove if victims can't talk about the extent of their suffering. Prosecutors say children younger than 5 often aren't able to articulate "substantial pain." The same can be true for older children with developmental disabilities or those who don't want to speak out against their abusers.

The law leaves open another avenue for proving a "physical injury" – that the victim suffered an "impairment of a physical condition." But the Oregon Court of Appeals has ruled that welts, bruises and shallow cuts aren't enough.

[ExPatty 502]

I have a hard time believing it's essentially illegal to mildly beat a baby because they cannot articulate it. There must be cases of people convicted for abuse of babies even if they didn't suffer horrendous, debilitating wounds.

[Dakine10 5,452]

I have a hard time believing it's essentially illegal to mildly beat a baby because they cannot articulate it. There must be cases of people convicted for abuse of babies even if they didn't suffer horrendous, debilitating wounds.

There's a petition online to change the law. It states the current law has been in effect since 2012, so it's possible this was an oversight in the law that hasn't come up before. Hopefully they get it fixed ASAP.