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Are state child abuse sentences often too low?

By Douglas A. Berman

This long local article from South Carolina, headlined "Child abusers escape jail time," prompts the question in the title of this post.  Here are snippets from the article: Since 2002, S.C. judges have given no prison time in at least 10 cases in which defendants were initially charged with inflicting great bodily injury on a child ? a felony that carries a maximum 20-year sentence but no minimum.... Short of death, the charge is the most serious involving harm to a child. By comparison, a person who seriously injures an adult can be charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, which also carries a 20-year maximum.... A state Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday will consider a bill ... that would require mandatory two-year prison sentences for day care operators convicted of inflicting great bodily injury on a child...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 12, 2009 (boomark / email).