Child Neglect and Aggravated Child Neglect - Florida Statutes 827.03(2)(d) & 827.03(2)(b)

Are you being charged, in Palm Beach County, Florida with Aggravated Child Neglect? We are Aggravated Child Neglect Attorneys located in West Palm Beach. When you are arrested for Aggravated Child Neglect you want a lawyer that understands and practices in this area of law. Don’t hire a lawyer that dabbles in the art of criminal defense, hire a criminal defense attorney that has extensive experience Aggravated Child Neglect cases. Your attorney needs to have knowledge and experience but also needs to know the players. Knowing the players comes from years of being inside the courtroom. Finding the best criminal defense attorney in Palm Beach County, for your case, is difficult. You need to review their educational background, experience in criminal cases, their reputation in the community, and their ability to communicate with you, the client. The quality of the criminal defense attorney you hire to defend your Aggravated Child Neglect case is extremely important. We ask that you consider our South Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys.

Child neglect is a caregiver’s failure or omission to provide a child with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the child’s physical and mental health, including, but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential for the well-being of the child. Another way child neglect can happen is a caregiver’s failure to make a reasonable effort to protect a child from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person.

Child neglect can be from one instance of neglect or from multiple instances that could have resulted in the serious physical or mental injury or a substantial risk of death to a child.

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Florida Statute 827.03(2)(d) – Child Neglect

This is the lower form of child neglect, but is no less serious in the eyes of the law. These charges will be prosecuted.

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What the State Prosecutor Has to Prove to Convict a Defendant of This Crime

The state prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. The defendant:
   1. Willfully or by culpable negligence failed or omitted to provide the victim with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the victim’s physical or mental health; or
   2. Failed to make a reasonable effort to protect the victim from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person;
2. The defendant was a caregiver for the victim; and
3. The victim was under the age of 18 years.

Culpable negligence must be committed with an utter disregard for the safety of others. Culpable negligence is consciously doing an act or following a course of conduct that the defendant must have known, or reasonably should have known, was likely to cause death or great bodily harm.

A caregiver means a parent, adult household member, or other person responsible for a child's welfare.

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Punishment

This crime is a third-degree felony which is punishable up to 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. It is ranked level 6 under the Florida Criminal Punishment Code.

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Florida Statutes 827.03(2)(b) - Aggravated Child Neglect

This is the more serious form of child neglect and it will be prosecuted vigorously by law enforcement.

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What the State Prosecutor Has to Prove to Convict a Defendant of This Crime

The state prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. The defendant:
   1. Willfully or by culpable negligence failed or omitted to provide the victim with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the victim’s physical or mental health; or
   2. Failed to make a reasonable effort to protect the victim from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person;
2. While doing the above, the defendant caused great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the victim;
3. The defendant was a caregiver for the victim; and
4. The victim was under the age of 18 years.

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Punishment

This crime is a second-degree felony which is punishable up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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Defenses

Sometimes individuals call in fake reports of children being neglected at a home just to make the parents’ lives miserable. This comes from neighbors or from people who don’t agree with the parents’ choices for discipline (spanking) or for educating their children (homeschooling). The neighbors make up stories and overzealous Department of Children and Families workers go about trying to find problems. These cases can be defended. Our West Palm Beach Negligent Child Supervision Attorneys will investigate the information that DCF and law enforcement had while conducting their investigation into the alleged child neglect.

Call our law offices today to schedule a 5 minute free consultation with one of our West Palm Beach Negligent Child Supervision Attorneys. We need to know what you know because it is important that we find out as much information about your case as possible. From that information, we will develop a defense strategy tailored to your case.

In the event of your case not being winnable, we won’t just give up, but will continue to fight to have your charges lessened or your sentence lessened. During our consultations, we want to get to know you as a person because this will help us develop a mitigation package to present to the prosecutor and judge. However your case may look, we will continue to fight to get you the best outcome possible. Call today so we can get to work helping you.

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