Next Year: A Life Sentence If You Serve Broccoli Too Many Times…

Parents could be jailed for life if they fail to provide children with enough food and water, the Government’s legal advisers say today.

Note: not a life sentence if they kill the children (which, let’s face it, should already carry a life sentence) as a result.

A life sentence for failing to provide children with enough food and water...

Now wait for all the legal geniuses to define ‘enough’ and ‘regular’, plus ‘food’:

Mothers and fathers are legally obliged to care for their children by providing regular meals and drinks.

Those that fail to do so can be charged with child neglect, which carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison.

However the Law Commission is proposing that the penalty should be increased to attempted murder by starvation. Anyone found guilty of attempted murder can be jailed for life.

And the reason for this? Some appalling case requiring hasty ‘be seen to be doing something’ action?

They claim not:

A spokesman for the Law Commission said the toughening in the law was not being proposed as a result of a recent case.
Cases of alleged child starvation in the UK are extremely rare.

So why the need to change it? Are abusive parents across the country getting away with murder?

If it ain't broke, chaps...