It seems like every time I go online I see the omnipresent Casey Anthony. Her pictures always elicit the same taste as her media coverage—it’s like regurgitating curdled yogurt. So, with bile and awe, I’ve recently read how several states and even the federal government are considering new laws in her honor, the not so cleverly called “Caylee’s Law.”

Really?!!!

No, really?!!!

I love democracy but this is its shortcoming. I can’t count the number of bad laws created in the heat of the moment. Let’s start with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, passed after college basketball star Len Bias overdosed on powder cocaine. As FAMM notes: “Many in the public and in Congress mistakenly believe his death is the result of a crack cocaine overdose. His death and fears of a crack cocaine epidemic lead Congress to create harsh punishments to win the ‘War on Drugs’ and end the crack epidemic plaguing urban centers.”

In response to the Timothy McVeigh bombing, Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which not only made it quicker for governments to carry out executions but also made it more difficult for ALL prisoners to file and prevail on habeas corpus claims. AEDPA has received its fair share of criticism.

The Patriot Act was passed after 9/11 and is, well, if you don’t know the major liberties we gave up as a result of its passage, you should.

And Megan’s Law requires sex offenders—offenses which are arbitrarily decided by the states—to notify local law enforcement of any change of address or employment after release from custody. Megan’s Law has provided little deterrent for sex offenders and caused a host of unforeseen problems.   

Laws passed after national tragedies are usually ones we ultimately regret. As Radley Balko at the Huffington Post wrote:

Laws named after crime victims and dead people are usually a bad idea. They play more to emotion than reason. But they’re disturbingly predictable, especially when they come after the death of a child. So it’s really no surprise that activist Michelle Crowder is now pushing “Caylee’s Law,” a proposed federal bill that would charge parents with a felony if they fail to report a missing child within 24 hours, or if they fail to report the death of a child within an hour. What’s surprising is just how quickly the Change.org petition for Caylee’s Law has gone viral. As of this writing it has more than 700,000 signatures, and is now the most successful campaign in the site’s history. For reasons of constitutionality and practicality, it seems unlikely that Caylee’s Law will ever be realized at the federal level. But according to the AP, at least sixteen state legislatures are now considering some version of the law. That’s troubling.

This is a bad way to make public policy. In an interview with CNN, Crowder concedes that she didn’t consult with a single law enforcement official before coming up with her 24-hour and 1-hour limits. This raises some questions. How did she come up with those cutoffs? Did she consult with any grief counselors to see if there may be innocuous reasons why an innocent person who just witnessed a child’s death might not immediately report it, such as shock, passing out, or some other sort of mental breakdown? Did she consult with a forensic pathologist to see if it’s even possible to pin down the time of death with the sort of precision you’d need to make Caylee’s Law enforceable? Have any of the lawmakers who have proposed or are planning to propose this law actually consulted with anyone with some knowledge of these issues?

You can read about these new laws at the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Time Magazine.