Theory of Relative Punishment

So the other day, a 3 year old drowned while swimming at a beach. Sad, yes. However, if you get focused on the sadness, you miss the burning question. What the hell is a 3 year old kid doing swimming at a beach without a parent right next to them? Was this like the Tiger Woods of swimming? Did the kid's folks drop 'em off and say, "That kid will never be the next Greg Louganis if water ain't in his blood?" What the hell. In response, everybody was up in arms about warning people of the danger of allowing kids to swim by themselves. Ok, so before this story aired, there was one about a man who beat his wife and kids with a baseball bat. This is very sad as well. (It wasn't a great night of the news, but then again, it never is.) This man was accused of attempted homicide and child neglect or abuse I don't remember which exactly, as he should have been.

Ok, now that we got the info, here is the issue as I see it. A man who beat his kids, almost to death but they are still alive, was accused of child abuse or neglect. I totally agree with this. At the same time, a parent that left their kid alone to drown got exactly what? Well, other than the loss of a child, no legal issues at all. Now, for the guy whose kids are still alive, he's going to jail; the person with the dead child, they are walking among us. What message does that send to people? "Um...Yeah, if you want to kill your kids, just take 'em to the beach and let them drown cause if you hit them, you are going to jail, but if they 'accidentally' drown, that is ok by us." Just friggin' great.