Senate Bill No. 598
(By Senators Kessler and Minard)
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[Introduced February 17, 2010; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-8D-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to making it a misdemeanor for
child neglect which creates a substantial risk of bodily
injury.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-8D-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8D. CHILD ABUSE.
§61-8D-4. Child neglect resulting in injury; child neglect
creating risk of injury; criminal penalties.
(a) If any parent, guardian or custodian shall neglect a child
and by such neglect cause said child bodily injury, as such term is
defined in section one, article eight-b of this chapter, then such
parent, guardian or custodian shall be guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 or committed to the custody of the Division of Corrections
for not less than one nor more than three years, or in the
discretion of the court, be confined in
the county jail for not
more than one year, or both such fine and confinement or
imprisonment.
(b) If any parent, guardian or custodian shall neglect a child
and by such neglect cause said child serious bodily injury, as such
term is defined in section one, article eight-b of this chapter,
then such parent, guardian or custodian shall be guilty of a felony
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $300 nor
more than $3,000 or committed to the custody of the Division of
Corrections for not less than one nor more than ten years, or both
such fine and imprisonment fined and imprisoned.
(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply if the
neglect by the parent, guardian or custodian is due primarily to a
lack of financial means on the part of such parent, guardian or
custodian.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any
parent, guardian or custodian who fails or refuses, or allows
another person to fail or refuse, to supply a child under the care,
custody or control of such parent, guardian or custodian with
necessary medical care, when such medical care conflicts with the
tenets and practices of a recognized religious denomination or
order of which such parent, guardian or custodian is an adherent or
member.
(e) Any person who grossly neglects a child and by the gross
neglect creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or of
death to the child is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than $3,000 and confined to the
custody of the Division of Corrections for not less than one nor
more than five years.
(f) Any person who neglects a child and by the neglect creates
a substantial risk of bodily injury, as defined in section one,
article eight-b of this chapter, to the child is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than $1,000 or shall be confined in jail for not more than one
year, or both fined and confined.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to add a misdemeanor for
child neglect creating a substantial risk of bodily injury.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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