Abstract
Sometimes parents abandon or discard infants very early in life and this often leads to their death. Regardless of the circumstances, this is generally considered a form of neglect. The most universal response to this in the United States has been to pass “safe haven” laws—or laws that allow parents to legally relinquish infants in designated areas without any criminal consequence. Today, all states in the U.S. have safe haven laws. This chapter discusses the history, purpose, and use of these laws. The primary concerns of safe haven laws is that they are easy to pass and implement, but that they do not address unwanted pregnancies or help to support parents who may be feeling desperate enough to relinquish a child. Further, despite the options that they present to parents, there is no evidence to date that safe haven laws lead to fewer deaths of children.
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Notes
- 1.
According to Cornell University’s online legal dictionary, Wex, an “affirmative defense” is “a defense in which the defendant introduces evidence, which, if found to be credible, will negate criminal or civil liability, even if it is proven that the defendant committed the alleged acts.” In addition to safe haven laws, other examples of affirmative defenses include self-defense or insanity.
- 2.
I calculated this mean age based on descriptive information in the article.
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Douglas, E.M. (2017). State Safe Haven Laws. In: Child Maltreatment Fatalities in the United States. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7583-0_6
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