Child Abuse

The allegations of child abuse are sure to strike an emotional chord with law enforcement officials and the courts when they are made against you. Charges like this will turn your life upside down in an instant and being convicted of child abuse will impact your life for a long time to come and may include incarceration and other long-lasting penalties. Your reputation and your relationships with your family, friends, co-workers and others will suffer dramatically as well.

If you have been falsely accused of these charges, you need to contact Carmenate Law Firm LLC, as soon as possible to stop the momentum moving against you and begin to mount a defense that will restore your standing with your children and with the community.

Some people are opposed to corporal punishment which includes physical discipline such as spanking. Others are fine with it as a form of discipline as long as it does not step over the line when corporal punishment becomes criminal child abuse. This is a problem that judges and juries often face when attempting to decide if child abuse has taken place. While some may disagree with your right to physically punish your child, it is important that they don’t confuse the limits and convict someone of child abuse when it does not meet that test.

The bottom line is that a parent can discipline their children, but it is never okay to cause an injury or inflict serious pain on a child.

Under Colorado law, a person commits child abuse if he or she caused an injury to a child’s health or life, or if they allow the unreasonable placement of a child into a situation that threatens the child’s life. Child abuse is also said to exist if the person engages in a continued pattern of conduct that results in malnourishment, a lack of proper medical care, cruel punishment, mistreatment or an accumulation of injuries that ultimately results in the death of a child or serious bodily injury to a child.

Other crimes that are identified as child abuse include the mutilation of the genitals of a female child, engaging in the manufacture of a controlled substance in the presence of a child or allowing them to be present when someone else is manufacturing a controlled substance.

Many parents also do not realize that getting a DUI with the children in the car is considered child abuse. You can also be charged if you use or possess illegal drugs where children are present, and you could also be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor as well, which is a felony.

Because there are so many ways that child abuse can take place, the range of criminal charges varies. That means penalties will have a wide swing as well.