Sunday, March 25, 2007

VERBAL Child abuse??

Some Florida nuttiness:

"A bill (HB 1169) that expands the legal definition of child abuse to include abuse that results in 'mental injury' was approved unanimously Wednesday by the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. It has two more committee hearings before it can go before the full House for a vote.

A similar bill (SB 2736) is filed in the Senate.

Bill drafters aimed to answer legal concerns about the right to free speech with exemptions for constitutionally protected speech, such as political speech.

'We're going to make sure that no other child suffers mental child abuse and we don't get a conviction,' the bill's sponsor, Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, said before the committee vote.

Source

"Mental injury"? Almost anything could be said to cause that: All school discipline, for a start. Interested Participant has some appropriate comments.