State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > West-virginia > 61 > 61-8d-4§61-8D-4. Child neglect resulting in injury; child neglect creating risk of injury; criminal penalties.
(a) If any parent, guardian or custodian shall neglect a child and by such neglect cause said child bodily injury, as such term is defined in section one, article eight-b of this chapter, then such parent, guardian or custodian shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or committed to the custody of the division of corrections for not less than one nor more than three years, or in the discretion of the court, be confined in the county jail for not more than one year, or both such fine and confinement or imprisonment.
(b) If any parent, guardian or custodian shall neglect a child and by such neglect cause said child serious bodily injury, as such term is defined in section one, article eight-b of this chapter, then such parent, guardian or custodian shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than three hundred nor more than three thousand dollars or committed to the custody of the division of corrections for not less than one nor more than ten years, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply if the neglect by the parent, guardian or custodian is due primarily to a lack of financial means on the part of such parent, guardian or custodian.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any parent, guardian or custodian who fails or refuses, or allows another person to fail or refuse, to supply a child under the care, custody or control of such parent, guardian or custodian with necessary medical care, when such medical care conflicts with the tenets and practices of a recognized religious denomination or order of which such parent, guardian or custodian is an adherent or member.
(e) Any person who grossly neglects a child and by the gross neglect creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or of death to the child is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than three thousand dollars and confined to the custody of the division of corrections for not less than one nor more than five years.
