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Madison WI Child Abuse Defense Lawyer Attorney
Many different circumstances
potentially lead to an accusation of child abuse. It may be a
situation of a parent imposing discipline on the child. It may be a
situation of one parent, wanting to damage another parent’s
reputation, putting up a child to tell a story of supposed abuse.
It may be a situation of a child, angry at a parent, making up a
claim of abuse. It may be a situation of some third party, like a
teacher, counselor or nurse, prompting a child to make a claim of
abuse. Under any of the potential circumstances, an accusation of
child abuse can be devastating. The situation, even handled well,
creates the potential of forever changing the relationship between
the parent and the child. It also includes the possibility of
significant criminal penalties.
The crime of child abuse is not
limited to interactions between a child and parent. It potentially
includes anyone who is accused of causing harm to a child.
The penalty for child abuse, or
physical abuse of a child as it is known in the Wisconsin criminal
law, depends on the circumstances of the alleged abuse. It is always
a felony, but some circumstances make it a more serious felony. The
specifics of the potential crimes of child abuse in Wisconsin are
set forth below.
948.03.
Physical abuse of a child
(1)
Definitions. In this section, “recklessly” means conduct
which creates a situation of unreasonable risk of harm to and
demonstrates a conscious disregard for the safety of the child.
(2)
Intentional causation of bodily harm. (a) Whoever
intentionally causes great bodily harm to a child is guilty of a
Class C felony.
(b) Whoever
intentionally causes bodily harm to a child is guilty of a Class H
felony.
(c) Whoever
intentionally causes bodily harm to a child by conduct which creates
a high probability of great bodily harm is guilty of a Class F
felony.
(3) Reckless
causation of bodily harm. (a) Whoever recklessly causes
great bodily harm to a child is guilty of a Class G felony.
(b) Whoever recklessly
causes bodily harm to a child is guilty of a Class I felony.
(c) Whoever recklessly
causes bodily harm to a child by conduct which creates a high
probability of great bodily harm is guilty of a Class H felony.
(4) Failing to
act to prevent bodily harm. (a) A person responsible for
the child's welfare is guilty of a Class F felony if that person has
knowledge that another person intends to cause, is causing or has
intentionally or recklessly caused great bodily harm to the child
and is physically and emotionally capable of taking action which
will prevent the bodily harm from occurring or being repeated, fails
to take that action and the failure to act exposes the child to an
unreasonable risk of great bodily harm by the other person or
facilitates the great bodily harm to the child that is caused by the
other person.
(b) A person
responsible for the child's welfare is guilty of a Class H felony if
that person has knowledge that another person intends to cause, is
causing or has intentionally or recklessly caused bodily harm to the
child and is physically and emotionally capable of taking action
which will prevent the bodily harm from occurring or being repeated,
fails to take that action and the failure to act exposes the child
to an unreasonable risk of bodily harm by the other person or
facilitates the bodily harm to the child that is caused by the other
person. |
