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County prosecutors and law enforcement back HB 257 to criminalize severe child neglect
Summary
Prosecutors, police and family members urged the committee to create a criminal offense for serious child neglect (HB 257, "Charlotte's Law"), citing cases where current statutes left gaps for chronic neglect, medical neglect, and failure to protect children from sexual abuse.
Sullivan and Strafford County attorneys, New Hampshire prosecutors and police officers testified in favor of HB 257 to establish a standalone crime of criminal neglect of a child. The bill, called “Charlotte’s Law” by witnesses, is intended to fill gaps prosecutors say exist in New Hampshire statutes for harms caused by neglect — including medical neglect, failure to protect children from sexual abuse and cases that do not fit neatly into negligent homicide or assault statutes.
Emily Garrod (Stratford County attorney) and Christine Hilliard (Sullivan County attorney) told the committee that prosecutors sometimes cannot bring charges where injuries stem from sustained neglect rather than a single intentional act. Hilliard and Garrod described cases — including one in which a father did not act when informed a child was being sexually abused — and said the proposed statute would provide an appropriate criminal tool and a deterrent that can be matched with sentencing alternatives and rehabilitation requirements.
Police Commander Alex Marvin of Newport described investigations that reveal ongoing neglect that do not meet the purposeful standard for child‑abuse charges, and cited high‑profile local cases where earlier intervention might have reduced harm. Family members of Charlotte Ward and other victims gave emotional testimony detailing preventable deaths and chronic neglect; they urged the committee to pass HB 257.
Opponents including the NASW New Hampshire chapter urged caution, arguing the department of children, youth and families (DCYF) already has civil tools and that criminalization risks penalizing poverty. Witnesses from county attorneys’ offices said the statute would be narrowly tailored, would permit prosecutors discretion, and could include language mirroring existing duty‑of‑care definitions in RSA 639:3 to avoid overbreadth.
The chair appointed a subcommittee to consider the bill and named members for that panel.
