Commonwealth v. Garcia

Commonwealth v. Raposo, 413 Mass. 182 (1992), held that a parent who failed to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual attacks on her minor daughter by a third person could not be found guilty of being an accessory before the fact. More than an omission to act was required. In a concurrence, Justice Abrams, noting that “a majority of State Legislatures have enacted criminal child abuse statutes which proscribe acts of omission as well as the affirmative infliction of harm,” id. at *420189-190, and noting also that “compelling arguments can be made for and against criminalizing” acts of…