(Sacramento, CA) – Speaker pro Tempore Sally Lieber (D-San Jose) today introduced a bill to clarify and strengthen California law protecting children, especially infants and toddlers.

“The vast majority of child abuse victims and fatalities are young children.  Too often the abuse begins as some form of ‘discipline.’  Existing law is clearly not doing enough to protect the youngest, smallest, most vulnerable members of our society,” Lieber said.

Current law permits corporal punishment of children as long as it is not “unjustifiable.”  Judges and prosecutors confirm that the vagueness of this standard has produced unpredictable and sometimes shocking results when asserted as an affirmative defense by defendants in court.  The legislation seeks to remedy this situation with a rebuttable presumption that certain specified types of punishment are unjustifiable per se.  These are:

1)        The use of an implementation, including, but not limited to a stick, a rod, a switch, an electrical cord, an extension cord, a belt, a broom, or a shoe.
            2)        Throwing, kicking, burning, or cutting a child.
            3)        Striking a child with a closed fist.
            4)        Striking a child under the age of three on the face or head.
            5)        Vigorous shaking of a child under the age of three.
            6)        Interference with a child’s breathing.
            7)        Threatening a child with a deadly weapon.

These provisions allow prosecutors to charge “baby-shaking” as either a felony or a misdemeanor, depending upon the circumstances.  The bill also expands the sentencing discretion of courts by adding non-violent parenting education classes as an option for those convicted under the statute.