Toddler left in car at Jersey City mall

Does anyone ever go to jail for this? Once again a child has been left alone in a car. This time a Bayonne father is in police custody and will be charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Police say he left his 15 month old daughter in an unlocked vehicle with the motor running. By the time police responded to the Newport Centre mall parking garage it had already been about ten minutes. They waited another 11 minutes before the idiot father showed up and was promptly arrested.

I wonder about the followup on these things. We can throw charges at people as well we should. But you have to wonder how often some liberal judge or prosecutor ends up offering probation and some lame parenting course. You don't need a parenting course to know you don't leave a 15 month old alone in a car. I happen to have a 15 month old boy, who I watch and care for all morning long before the show every day. He is, in fact, on my knee right now as I type this with one hand. I often have to run errands with him. So yes, I know how hard it is. Being a parent is hard. If you don't want the job, don't have kids.

Anyone who leaves young children unattended is pathetic. This isn't only about a hot car interior on a summer day. Cars by nature are mobile and can be stolen. We've all heard the stories of a stolen car where the thief didn't see or didn't care that there was a child in the backseat. Then there are predators. While rare, it can obviously happen and if you think it can't that's your own laziness talking. People who leave their young children alone in cars deserve prison. If it's the case of a single parent and would mean the child would have to be taken from them, then the child is probably better off. Because parents who do this do not value their children. People won't leave their iPhone or wallet in plain view on the seat and walk away with their car unlocked. Yet they'll think nothing of doing this to a defenseless baby.

So when people do this, what should happen to them? Take our survey below.