Debate: Should parents face criminal prosecution for negligence?

Editor's note: China's two sessions get under way this week. During the top annual meetings, the NPC deputies and CPPCC members submit their proposals and suggestions on a wide range of issues from politics and the economy to culture and diplomacy. Many have already attracted attention and generated much discussion. Here are some of the hotly debated proposals and the reactions of our Chinese and foreign readers. Add your own voice to the discussions.

What caught our eyes is that CPPCC member Li You, together with other 13 CPPCC members including Zeng Rong and Liu Jianjun, submitted a proposal to hold parents criminally responsible for neglecting their children, following several reported child deaths from parental negligence. Should parents face criminal prosecution for negligence? China Daily readers debate on this proposal.

Here in Australia we have accidents on farms from time to time where children are injured or killed. It is most often the case that the parent has been careless and this has resulted in their child's death but there is no sense in getting angry at them about it. These types of accidents are a tragedy and often the parents are in more need of counseling than punishment. I do not think that parents that cause a tragic accident through being careless should be charged with manslaughter.

Ratfink (Australia)

From a humanitarian viewpoint losing a child in such a tragic manner will cause a lifetime of grief for the parents. However, there are times when a steep penalty is needed, in the case of willful neglect for example.

Ted180 (Canada)

Here in Canada criminal charges are sometimes brought against negligent parents and they are sometimes convicted and sometimes imprisoned. This has been the case for as long as I've been alive (72.5 years).

HEIR_Publiction (The Philippines)

No. The loss of a child is enough to bear. Instead, government should instruct mass media to educate all the parents by forewarning them of such possible tragedies.

earthcitizen (US)

It's about time parents were held more responsible for their lack of action. Too many times a child has drowned in a dam or at the beach, been run over in the driveway or on the road outside the house, been in a room many stories up with insecure windows or left in the car. Too many times people say 'oh those poor parents'. We need to start saying "Where were the parents?" If I live on a property with water or dangerous equipment I never let my children out of my sight, if I am at a beach or lake I never let my children out of my sight and this also applies to the park, my own yard etc. Children and accidents happen easily, but when it is because of the failure of the parents, they need to be held responsible.