England is Throwing Wicked Stepmothers in Jail

We are all familiar with Cinderella, the children’s folk-tale by The Brothers Grimm, which features a wicked stepmother who abuses Cinderella and treats her as a servant in her home. Poor Cinderella was subjected to neglect, emotional abuse, and deprivation of love and affection from her wicked stepmother. Unfortunately, many children are emotionally abused by their parents or care takers, however recent news reports that England is officially making this a crime.

New York Post recently published an article titled “Parents could be jailed for starving their children of love,” the article reports that England has amended their laws to make “emotional cruelty” a crime for the first time. Under the new “Cinderella Law”, parents who are found guilty of emotional cruelty could face up to 10 years in prison.

The article describes that under the current laws in England and Wales an adult who is responsible for a child can be prosecuted if they have deliberately assaulted, abandoned or exposed a child to suffering or injury to their health, but under the new law the article notes that “anything that deliberately harmed a child’s ‘physical intellectual, emotional, social or behavioral development’ will be considered a crime.” The article reports that the purpose behind the law is to allow police to intervene earlier in emotional abuse cases in order to prevent permanent damage to the child’s emotional and social development. The article quotes Robert Buckland, a Conservative MP and part–time judge who has been campaigning on the issue:

“Not too many years after the Brothers Grimm popularized the story of Cinderella, the offense of child neglect was introduced…our criminal law has never reflected the full range of emotional suffering experienced by children who are abused by their parents or careers. The sad truth is that, until now, the Wicked Stepmother would have got away scot- free.”

With emotional cruelty now being considered a crime for the first time in England, it is interesting to consider amending child neglect laws in the United States would impact future litigation.