Omaha Sen. Pete Pirsch introduced a bill into the Nebraska Legislature that would require parents or guardians to inform police if a child disappeared or died in their custody.
The bill -- inspired by death of Florida toddler Caylee Anthony -- is one of many being pursued in the country after the girl's mother, Casey Anthony, was acquitted of her murder on July 7. The 25-year-old was convicted of four misdemeanors for lying to authorities before Caylee's body was found, including claims that the girl was with a nanny.
"It's the magnitude of the tragedy, not the commoness of the occurrence, that compels this to come forward," Pirsch told the Lincoln Journal Star. He thinks the law won't be used much, but that it's important to have on the books.
"I hope it never has to be employed. That's the whole point of this," he added.
An online petition for "Caylee's Law" has circled the country in the 10 days since the trial ended with over 1.2 million signatures. However, not everyone believes that such a law is actually a good idea.
Time reporter Maia Szalavitz argues that such a law would put undue grief on parents who have just lost a child through accidental circumstances like drowning.
Presumably, the reporting requirement could be satisfied simply by the act of seeking medical attention, but it's easy to see how the main result here would be more paperwork, bureaucracy and possibly even jail time for people already facing the worst form of grief," Szalavitz wrote.
Also, parents would be forced to file police reports when their children don't come home one night, creating mountains of missing teen cases that divert police resources from actual missing person reports.
The key to keep this from happening is to add specific wording into state laws -- like the one introduced by Sen. Pirsch '" to keep that from happening. Otherwise, Nebraska will be burdened with an unnecessarily harsh law like the so-called "Three Strikes" law in California.
The "Three Strikes" law was introduced after Petaluma, Calif., teen Polly Klaus was abducted and murdered by a man on parole. With the law, repeat offenders '" even non-violent ones -- are given mandatory 25 years to live sentences for their third conviction. The law put thousands of offenders in prisons, costing the already cash-strapped state billions.
Nebraska lawmakers will have to consider the caveats of a Nebraska version of "Caylee's Law" to keep that from happening in the state. They still have time '" the lawmakers won't reconvene until 2012.
Meagan Morris is a freelance journalist, native Nebraskan and graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She focuses her work on arts, entertainment, culture and women's issues. Follow her on Twitter @upsidemeagan.
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