I want to know if there is any law in Mississippi that punishes parents for child abandonment.
Full Question:
I have a cousin who has a 5 year old child. My cousin and her husband are earning well and have a big house in Mississippi. Yesterday my cousin and her husband left their child on a street, far away from their home, with the intention to abandon their child. My cousin says that they did so because they have no means to look after the child. I know my cousin is lying. At present their child is staying with me. I want to know if there is any law in Mississippi that punishes parents for child abandonment.
12/16/2016 |
Category: Criminal ยป Minors |
State: Mississippi |
#28237
Answer:
“If the father or mother of any child under the age of six years, or any other person having the lawful custody of such child, or to whom such child shall have been confided, shall expose such child in any highway, street, field, house, outhouse, or elsewhere, with intent wholly to abandon it, such person shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than seven years, or in the county jail not more than one year.”
Mississippi has a law that provides for punishment for a willful abandonment of a child (below 6 years of age) by the parent. Under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-5-1, the cousin and her husband may be punished for willfully abandoning their child on the street.