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Court reverses N.J. child-abuse law; kids left alone in car not necessarily a crime

kids locked in a trunk

AUGUST 20, 2015, 1:18 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2015, 11:08 PM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD

On a cloudy day in 2009, a mother of four left her youngest child, a 19-month-old girl, sleeping in a locked car and went into a Dollar Tree store in South Plainfield.

By the time she returned to her vehicle, security guards had called the police. The mother was arrested. And what started as a five- to 10-minute stop to buy party supplies on a 55-degree day turned into a legal battle that has not yet ended six years later.

The state Supreme Court took the mother’s side in a unanimous decision issued Thursday. Leaving a young child unattended in a car is legal in some cases if the parent or caretaker takes precautionary measures, the court indicated.

As a result, the mother will get a chance to clear her record at a fact-finding hearing she has sought for years. The decision extends to other parents and guardians as well, ending the state’s ability to enroll them automatically in its registry of child abusers for leaving children in unattended vehicles. If those children are unharmed, the state must let their guardians plead their case at a hearing, the court said.

The mother has been granted anonymity by the courts, and is referenced only by her initials, E.D.-O.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ruling-that-made-leaving-kids-in-car-child-abuse-no-matter-how-briefly-overturned-by-nj-supreme-court-1.1395764

2 thoughts on “Court reverses N.J. child-abuse law; kids left alone in car not necessarily a crime

  1. Finally a court with some common sense.

  2. If my daughter fell alseep in the car I would not move her. I would leave her parked by the side door and would check on her.

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