gitana1
Verified Attorney
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So to me personally, I hear it in a different tone than you guys do...I hear that repentance is key, not screaming, not pouting...scream all you like, until the repentance is shown, I'll keep at it.
We don't know the personalities, we only hear snippets
You mean like beat the kid into repentance? Yeah, that's the tone I'm hearing too.
Gitana, I have a legal question... These kids were removed a couple weeks ago, right? How can they (authorities) still be investigating? Does it normally take this amount of time for the children to be kept away from the parents without the parents being charged with a crime? That article I linked is from the 20th. From what I can see they haven't been charged as of yet. I haven't been on here so maybe I'm missing something?
A criminal investigation can go on for 6 years if it is a felony or 1 year if a misdemeanor, in Arkansas. But typically, investigations would not last that long.
In a case like this, it actually hasn't been that long, considering kids are witnesses. When that is the case, it can take some time.
But what everyone needs to also know is that investigators and prosecutors are also simply taking the time to decide whether they should charge at all, considering a variety of factors other than only evidence, such as the impression witnesses will make, the hardship to witnesses if they are compelled to testify, in general, how easy it would be to prove their case and also, the political implications of pursuing charges.
So even if they have evidence to charge, they may hesitate if the politcal climate is one that could cost them the election. As we have seen, there are people who firmly believe people have the right to "chastise", "beat", "correct", or otherwise, keep going at it on a screaming child until they repent. There are people who firmly believe that if a family whose children are taken by CPS is Christian and home schools, they must be the victims of a vast left-wing conspiracy and there is no way any allegations could be true. There are people who will immediately call into question anything the government does when the subject is a conservative family.
And a huge number of those people live in Arkansas and vote in Arkansas.
So the implications of charging the parents in this case are undoubtedly being weighed by the state attorneys and the sheriff's department. Even if they feel they have strong evidence.
In any event, I feel that the odds are greater that the parents will escape prosecution. Because if the juvenile dependency court can keep the kids safe without criminal prosecution of the parents, then they may not want to risk political fallout from a prosecution of an ideologically sympathetic set of parents.
I think it is pretty clear that if this is going on, no one on this thread will think it is ok.
I would have thought that too, but I've read posts from two separate posters who don't seem to find that to be a problem!