Child care rules may be toughened

Tools

Child care rules may be toughened

Story Published: Jan 5, 2009 at 10:00 PM EST

Story Updated: Jan 5, 2009 at 10:00 PM EST

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A Greenville state senator wants to
require jail for anyone convicted of causing serious injury to
children.

Republican Sen. Mike Fair told The State newspaper his bill
would require a mandatory prison sentence for child care providers
who hurt children. Fair cited a Columbia case in which a home day
care provider got no prison time after admitting to seriously
harming a baby.

Causing serious injury to a child is a felony that carries a
maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, but there is no minimum
sentence.

Talisha Lavette Smith was given five years of probation after
pleading guilty last month. Authorities say Smith slapped the
7-month-old girl so hard it caused bleeding in her brain.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

User Agreement

View comments

The following comments do not necessarily represent the views of NBC Augusta 26 | news, weather, sports, community, entertainment, shopping for Augusta, Georgia. Users have agreed to these terms and in doing so accept full responsibility for their comments. Moderation is limited.

Monday, Jan 5 at 10:53 PM Steve wrote ...

I'm not sure Senator Mike Fair's plan is really the best thing.. how about we find the judge that allowed Ms Smith to get off with no prison sentence and punish HIM for thinking people wouldn't care that he was doing a bad job with all the tax dollars we pay him?

14442879 Inappropriate? Alert Us!

Monday, Jan 5 at 11:37 PM teresa wrote ...

forget the senator why didn't the childcare center run a background check on this person I work at a childcare center in evans and they run a very strict background check!!!! JUst a thought???!!!

14444328 Inappropriate? Alert Us!

Tuesday, Jan 6 at 8:28 AM uhhh.... wrote ...

If that were the parent, more punishment would have been issued... who was the judge anyway?

14450814 Inappropriate? Alert Us!

Tuesday, Jan 6 at 10:23 AM Anonymous wrote ...

Tougher laws are needed for people who commits this type of crime against a child. The majority of child care centers (not all of them) will hire just about anybody to take care of children; regardless of experience or background. I feel the centers need to be mandated by the State to require a criminal background check on ALL employees/owners. Also, the owner of the center should be held liable to some extent as well.

14456603 Inappropriate? Alert Us!

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 500 Characters Left

WAGT and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. Comments are posted on site immediately and without station moderation. If you feel a comment is inappropriate you may flag it for review. For guidelines on flagging comments see our Terms & Conditions. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

I have read and agree to the terms

Hide comments

More Good Stuff

WAGT Weather

Click here for 7 Day Forecast
Icon
Current Temp 50.0 °F
A Few Clouds
More Weather

WAGT Weather

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

On Demand

NBC Augusta 26 RSS FeedsNBC Augusta 26 Twitter Feed NBC Augusta 26 Facebook Page NBC Full Shows Online

Viewer Poll

Do you plan to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Undecided