Article archive / April 1, 2016
Originally published: . Volume 7, No. 4. Source pages: 6.
A bill that will add starvation and malnutrition to the definition of "serious bodily injury" to child abuse reporting laws, has passed the Senate in a 33 to 0 vote. It now moves to the House.
The law, authored by Senators Claitor, Barrow, Colomb and Representative James, retains the present law and is to be known as the Alfred C. Williams Child Protection Act. Present law provides that any person who, pursuant to present law, is required to report the sexual abuse of a child, or the abuse or neglect of a child that results in the serious bodily injury, neurological impairment, or death of the child, and the person knowingly and willfully fails to so report is to be fined not more than $3,000, imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than three years, or both.
Present law defines "serious bodily injury" as injury involving protracted and obvious disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty, or substantial risk of death.
Proposed law retains present law and adds injury resulting from starvation or malnutrition to the definition of "serious bodily injury."
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