I am sickened by the light sentence of James Moss, the 6-foot-2, 270 pound father who ripped his 10-year-old son's clothes off, beat him with a spatula, held his hands over two kitchen stove burners, (producing 2nd and 3rd degree burns) punched him in the face, threw him in the oven, yelled “I'm going to burn you alive!” and then threw him naked outside, all because he thought the child stole $20.

This judge should not have let this child's pleas affect his decision. This father should have received at least four years in prison, not four months of weekend jail time. On average, five children die every day in the United States from physical child abuse and neglect. This boy is fortunate to be alive. As he grows, he will join the multitude of other broken people who hobble through their lives living out the life long effects of child abuse.


    When cases this severe come before the court, it is the courts job to protect the child AND send a message to parents that we as a society will NOT tolerate child abuse. Children who are abused do not know life without abuse thus abuse is normal to them.

    Naturally children want to remain with the only parents they know and love. But it is society's job to protect them.  As a child, I felt hatred for my mother, but it was something that could never be expressed for fear of my life. AND I genuinely loved her at the same time.  She wasn't abusive all the time and I doubt this father was either. But when parents cross the line and their actions can only be described as torture, such as holding a child's hands over fire, OR can kill, such as punching a child, parental rights should be at the very least temporarily terminated. And depending on the case, supervised visitation can be a privilege if, after psychological evaluation, it is in the best interest of the child to keep the relationship.

    Make no mistake, abusive people have complete control over their anger and abusive behavior. They know who they can abuse and who they can't, when they can abuse and when they can't. Thank goodness this mother had the courage to take this child to the hospital. The judge should have picked up on Christopher's statement about his other family members having forgiven his father, as this gives the child the message that he SHOULD forgive his father too. Let's get real here, ALL abusers are sorry AFTER they are caught and especially if they are facing prison time. Any judge who sits on cases of child abuse should be educated regarding the psychological makeup of a child abuse victim.

    Looking back at my childhood, I would have liked society to step in, punish Momma with jail, thus sending a clear signal to me that what she did was wrong, that she did NOT have the right to abuse me, and only after she served her sentence, there be court ordered psychological help for my family and supervised visitation with her.

Sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/05/james-moss-sentenced-to-1_n_919...