Should Drug Addicts Be Charged for Murder if Their Child Is Stillborn?
Question by Miss Verlaine: Should drug addicts be charged for murder if their child is stillborn?
In South Carolina, a woman was sentenced to 12 years in prision for homicide by child abuse.
–homeless drug addict with IQ of 72
–was using cocaine at 8.5 months
–addicted to cocaine, and no drug-treatment options available to her
Please consider both sides before answering….what do you think? What are your reasons?
Assume that yes, it was the cocaine that lead to the death of the fetus
I hate throwing in my opinion, because I don’t want to bias the answers….but think about it
What about smokers? They can cause serious harm to their fetus as well. They have smaller babies, and risk premature birth. Should they be charged with child abuse?
Best answer:
Answer by Meg
Not unless they can ACTUALLY PROVE that it was the drugs that killed the baby. There could be other reasons why, diseases not associated with drugs what-so-ever.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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ummmmm YES!!!!!
South Carolina was never one of the brightest states in the union.
Realisticly it’s stupid…why stop there? Shouldn’t her parents be thrown in jail as well. And the Grandparents as well? WHat about all the homless people who coulda stopped it? Should they be in Jail?
I believe she should be sentenced to twelve years in a mental institution. Drug rehab and lots of therapy. Maybe she didn’t realize what she was doing, but that still isn’t an excuse for doing the drugs that killed her baby. She should be punished.
In certain situations when the person has done it before and is basically using it as a form of birth control, yes!
Yes
A very sad situation. But yes I think she got what she deserved and is actually better off now. If she had had the child and let it die because of neglect it would have amounted to the same thing. Even homeless people have treatment options, most shelters offer them. Now that she is in prison, she has decent clothes, shelter, regular meals, health care ( including drug treatment ) and probably learning a skill. She might actually turn her life around. Killing another human, even through neglect, should have consequences.
You bet!
Yes, she should she would go to jail if she beat the baby why should she not be punished for putting her child in just as much danger or even more so because the child can not get away from her or tell someone.
I believe yes she should have. She could have at any point went to a police station and asked for help, or a church, well the list goes on and on to where she could have gone. There is no excuses what so ever, I grant u, the drugs make you do things you know you shouldn’t do, but I don’t see that for an excuse. Sure, look into why this baby died, but 99.99% of the time…its the drugs. You can’t tell me that she started using at 8.5 months, so the damage to that baby would be numerous.
I think she should be charged for NEGLIGENT homicide…that she killed someone due to her own neglect and stupidity.
The fact that someone who knows they are pregnant, and keeps on using illegal drugs is clearly trying to kill the baby.
There are many babies who live less than decent lives because their mothers smoked and drank while pregnant, but those things are perfectly legal.
Doing too many drugs, in my mind, is equal to a slow suicide, which is also illegal, so YES, I think she should be held liable for the obvious…that she was NEGLIGENT with the care for the life inside of her, and therefore was responsible for the stillbirth.
The punishment? I can’t answer that. Many women make mistakes that lead to the deaths of their children. That is negligence….a mistake. Leaving the baby unattended in the bathtub, and they drown…..She is still liable for being negligent. Not taking the time to think.
This gal with the low IQ….I don’t know how you punish someone like that, other than mandatory sterilization, but that would violate her human rights.
Too bad there are such troubled souls out there.