The death of a three-month-old baby led to the recent arrest of a Marion, Illinois man. The man was arrested for battery to a child, domestic battery, and aggravated battery. Police responded to a female caller who said that her child was being abused. The mother took her baby to the Heartland Regional Medical Center before police showed up, but the baby died of his injuries, allegedly inflicted by the man arrested for the crime. As of this writing, it is not known whether the man had any relation to the baby, or what his relationship is to the woman who called the police. However, the crimes that he was taken in on are serious felonies, as evidenced by his $1 million jail bond.

Aggravated Battery of a Child Is a Felony

Under Illinois statute 720 ILCS 5/12-3.05(b), aggravated battery of a child is defined as follows:

• Knowingly causing serious bodily injury, disfigurement, or disability; or
• Knowingly causing bodily harm, disfigurement, or disability;

And:

Child labor laws have come a long way since the beginning of the 20th century, when millions of children throughout the U.S. worked in factories, in plants, and on the street. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one out of eight children was employed in 1870. By 1900, one out of five children was employed. Nowadays, it is rare that a child under 15 years of age is employed, aside from farm work or normal chores.

Why Do We Need Child Labor Laws?

In the past, U.S. children were taken advantage of as “employees.” They were abused physically and emotionally, they were not given fair wages, their working conditions were atrocious, and most importantly of all, they were not allowed to be children. A child with a 10 or 12 hour work day, which was not uncommon in the early 1900s, would, of course, have no time or energy to devote to education, play, rest, or happiness. Child labor is still a large problem in third world countries, with one in four children between the ages of five and 17 working in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNICEF.

Child Labor Laws in Illinois

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was the first groundbreaking piece of legislation that took aim at child labor. In the years since, other federal and state laws have been enacted. The Illinois Wrongs to Children Act, statute 720 ILCS 150, was created in 1961 to continue strengthening child labor laws. The Act makes it illegal to take, receive, hire, employ, use, exhibit, or have in custody any child under 14 years old for the purpose of:

Over 25 years ago, a St. Charles couple decided to go on vacation to Mexico for nine days. They decided not to bring their children along, and while Home Alone II was playing in theaters, these two real-life parents left their nine- and four-year-old daughters home alone intentionally. They were arrested and their story gained national media attention, eventually leading to the creation of Illinois’ child abandonment law. Today, child abandonment is a serious criminal offense that can be penalized as a Class 4 felony, which carries a prison sentence of one to three years and a maximum fine of $25,000.

Characteristics Defining Child Abandonment

Illinois statute 720 ILCS 5/12-21.5 defines child abandonment as the following:

A parent, caregiver, or other guardian who currently has physical custody or control of a child under 13 years of age leaves that child without “supervision by a responsible person over the age of 14” for 24 hours or longer. This statute does not include those who legally relinquish a child in accordance with the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act. In order to determine whether or not the child’s mental or physical health or safety or welfare was disregarded, the following will be taken into consideration;