Children are going to die soon. Everyone who has lived in Arizona for more than a few years knows this.
It gets hot. Kids start swimming. And they start drowning.
Child drownings rank among the most frustrating things about living in this state. According to state records, 269 children in Arizona drowned between 1995 and 2001.
As heartless as it seems, prosecution of negligent guardians needs to occur when children drown.
What is most upsetting about the deaths of the children is that drownings are 100 percent preventable. There is nothing benign that causes children to breathe water like oxygen.
The root of all the sorrow can be traced directly to negligence. Whether the negligence lasts 10 seconds or three hours, simply paying attention could have prevented the deaths of 20 Maricopa County children last year.
There are blatantly prosecutable cases like the Maryvale brothers, who drowned together in an unfenced pool and weren't discovered for almost an hour. There are also more confusing cases that generally involve babies who drown in bathtubs after someone steps away for one moment.
But negligence is always the cause of death. Drowning is just the effect of it.
Education can go a long way to prevent drowning deaths. A relatively new program called Target Zero is dedicated to prevent child drownings through public awareness and education.
Last year, Target Zero helped slash the number of child drownings in our state. This year, the program plans to be more aggressive by featuring water safety events throughout the summer that will continue past Labor Day.
Target Zero has the right idea, which the name itself indicates. Zero child drownings is a very good number.
Prosecution of negligence is another tool in the arsenal to bring 25, the average annual number of child drownings in Arizona, down to zero.
Yes, the guardians are grieving. They suffer the worst punishment imaginable for one mistake. However, the state still has a vested interest to prevent actions that lead to the deaths of children.
In other situations, there is no question guardians must be responsible when negligence occurs. Leaving a loaded handgun within reach of a child, for example, will lead to prosecution every time.
It's just as stupid to leave a baby unsupervised in a bathtub. You walk out of the room because the phone is ringing. Baby falls over into water. That's the end of the story. A small amount of water can be just as dangerous as a loaded gun.
There are cut-and-dry cases of negligence in which second-guessing isn't necessary to know prosecuting is correct. Those neglectful in such situations should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
But lesser instances of neglect should not be totally forgiven, either. There may be a great deal of sympathy toward whoever was "in charge." Too often, it is only a momentary distraction that leads to horrific consequences because most caretakers would never knowingly cause a child harm.
But after years of the same thing happening every summer, every time a child drowns becomes more frustrating than the last. Something must be done that will bring negligence around water up to the same level as negligence with a firearm.
I don't suggest all guardians should go to prison as a result of negligence. The big baddies certainly should go and good riddance. The rest of them would be well served with some community service. With an organization like Target Zero, perhaps that will happen.
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Kym Levesque is a journalism junior. Reach her at kymberly.levesque@asu.edu.
