Enacts "Caylee's law" to establish the felonies of failure to report the disappearance of a child, as a class E felony, and failure to report the death of a child, as a class D felony.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A8936
SPONSOR: Titone (MS)
 
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the penal law, in relation to the
failure to report the death or disappearance of a child
 
PURPOSE:
Enacts "Caylee's law" to establish the felonies of failure to report
disappearance or death of a child.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: The penal law is amended by adding a new
section(s):
§ 260.40 Failure to report the disappearance of a child. A person is
guilty of failure to report the disappearance of a child when being the
parent, guardian or other person legally charged with the care or custo-
dy of a child less than 18 of age and he or she has reason to believe
such child is missing, such person fails to provide notice thereof to a
police officer or a law enforcement agency within 24 hours such person
has reason to believe the child is missing, Failure to report the disap-
pearance of a child is a class E felony.
§ 260.45 Failure to report the death of a child. A person is guilty of
failure to report the death of a child when being the parent, guardian
or other person legally charged with the care or custody of a child less
than 18 years of age and he or she has reason to believe that such child
is dead while not under the care of a health care professional or emer-
gency medical personnel, such person fails to provide notice thereof as
soon as reasonably possible, to a police officer or law enforcement
agency. Failure to report the death of a child is a class D felony.
 
JUSTIFICATION: This legislation will make it a felony for a parent,
legal guardian, or caretaker to not notify law enforcement of the disap-
pearance of a child with a 24 hour time span. In addition, this legis-
lation will make it a felony for a parent, legal guardian, or caretaker
to not notify law enforcement of the death of a child, accidental or
otherwise. What happened in the Caylee Anthony case in the State of
Florida was horrifying-and the fact that Caylee was not reported missing
for 31 days makes it that much more troubling. This legislation provides
an additional tool law enforcement can use to help in finding a missing
child and will make it easier to prosecute those who choose to harm
them.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: None.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the first of November
next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8936
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 4, 2012
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TITONE, CRESPO, SWEENEY, MURRAY, SCHIMEL,
LINARES, GALEF, ENGLEBRIGHT, ROBERTS, P. RIVERA, BENEDETTO, TENNEY,
CASTELLI, CASTRO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. LATIMER, MAGEE,
McDONOUGH, MILLMAN, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to the failure to report the
death or disappearance of a child
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 "Caylee's law".
3 § 2. The penal law is amended by adding two new sections 260.40 and
4 260.45 to read as follows:
5 § 260.40 Failure to report the disappearance of a child.
6 A person is guilty of failure to report the disappearance of a child
7 when being the parent, guardian or other person legally charged with the
8 care or custody of a child less than eighteen years of age and he or she
9 has reason to believe such child is missing, such person fails to
10 provide notice thereof to a police officer or a law enforcement agency
11 within twenty-four hours such person has reason to believe the child is
12 missing.
13 Failure to report the disappearance of a child is a class E felony.
14 § 260.45 Failure to report the death of a child.
15 A person is guilty of failure to report the death of a child when
16 being the parent, guardian or other person legally charged with the care
17 or custody of a child less than eighteen years of age and he or she has
18 reason to believe such child is dead while not under the care of a
19 health care professional or emergency medical personnel, such person
20 fails to provide notice thereof as soon as reasonably possible, to a
21 police officer or a law enforcement agency.
22 Failure to report the death of a child is a class D felony.
23 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
24 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13253-01-1