Why Knee-Jerk Reactions Such as "Caylee's Law" Are Bad

As you've undoubtedly seen, many state legislatures are considering enacting new laws dubbed "Caylee's Law", including Oklahoma. In fact, some people have begun petitioning for such a knee-jerk reaction that is basically a solution looking for a problem and would probably make children worse off.

Think about it.

In general, these proposals are calling for failure to report a child missing within 24 hours or the death of a child within 1 hour to be penalized as a felony. But why? Is that really going to have any effect at all on someone who does not want to report that their child is dead or missing? If you answered "yes", you really need to get your head checked because a circuit is obviously disconnected up there.

Additionally, ask yourself the following questions: Where does the clock start? From the moment of disappearance or death, or the moment that the parent noticed the disappearance or death? What about the obvious potential child-custody harassment?

Police departments already receive a multitude of false reports of missing children or abduction due largely to misunderstandings. What about the fear imposed against the law-abiding citizens who overcomply resulting in an even larger barrage of false reports?

What about the additional costs incurred to taxpayers to process and enforce compliance with such a law that has no positive effect on society? Just look to "Megan's Law" and California's "three strikes" law for good examples of failures caused by ignorant knee-jerk reactions to over-publicized and unusual cases.

Legislators need to be more responsible. Unfortunately, the vast majority of voters won't let them.