Yet again we have a child being killed by a dog, this time a Rotweiler. This dog isn't covered by the dangerous dogs act so I don't know what punishment is available but the owner of a banned dog that killed a child received 8 weeks in jail.
As I have said elsewhere I don't agree with jailing people without good caus0e, norally protecting the public, and at the same time I see no point in further legislation banning dogs, it won't work as we can't ban all dogs and nor should we want to.
Perhaps the time has come for the CPS to consider manslaughter charges for the dog's owners and maybe even parents who put their children in harms way? It might, just might, make people take responsibility themselves.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Dangerous dogs
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3 comments:
Manslaughter charges for the owners must be the way forward. Allowing your mad dog to kill somebody is not really morally different from leaving a bomb somewhere or drink driving.
Does that mean that anyone, however tangentially responsible for another's death, should face manslaughter charges? I don't see why "leaving a bomb somewhere" is manslaughter, certainly - there's threat and intent and means and that moves it up an order of magnitude.
Being the owner of a dog that kills is manslaughter? I don't think so. By the same token that would make you guilty of manslaughter if you had a child who killed someone. Or guilty of manslaughter if someone died as a result of a vehicle collision where you were driving one of the vehicles. Note I'm not saying these things can't be manslaughter; just that it's by no means clear to me that a manslaughter charge should automatically follow.
mark,
Anyone who has a dog and allows it to kill a child has been negligent IMHO. In which case IMHO a mansalughter charge is appropriate unless there are extenuating circumstances. It is then up to a jury to decide on guilt or innocence.
It is the same as someone who is, say, writing a text while driving a car. If the cause death through their negiligence then again a manslaugher charge is appropriate.
Your child killing someone is different as the age of the child has to be taken in to account as well as your own actions. If you give a 5 year old a gun, show them how it works and they kill someone a manslaughter charge does seem appropriate. On the other hand giving a 17 yo a car and they then kill someone through speeding shouldn't warrant a manslaughter charge as they have been deemed old enough to drive.
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