Washington Post:  “The California Senate just passed a bill that could send parents to jail for up to a year if their kids — from kindergarten through eighth grade — miss too much school.”  Wow!  This is a perfect example of the blindness of do good legislators to the unintended consequences of their stupid laws.  Consider the possible consequences if little Johnny skips school repeatedly and his mommy and daddy go to jail for a year:

  • Dad loses job
  • Mom loses job
  • Family has no money to buy food
  • Family evicted from home or loses home to mortgage foreclosure
  • Kids go to foster homes
  • Kids have no parents for a year
  • Parents may lose custody of the kids
  • Kids are ashamed that their parents are criminals
  • Millions of dollars California does not have spent investigating and prosecuting skip-parents
  • Violent criminals let out of jail to make room for criminal skip-parents
  • Little Johnny is proud of himself for the damage he’s done because he hates his Dad and Mom and/or family
  • California’s unemployment number goes even higher
  • More money California does not have paid out for unemployment benefits.

Other than those unintended consequences, the new law sounds awesome.