WSWS : News & Analysis : North America
Further criminalization of the poor in the US
Working class couple charged for the
accidental deaths of their children
By Paul Scherrer
28 October 1998
In what has become a fairly common occurrence in
America, a young working class couple in southwestern
Pennsylvania was bound over for trial Tuesday for the
deaths of their two small children in an accident
chiefly
caused by social conditions. Their two children climbed
into the trunk of the family car and suffocated while
their
mother, who had just returned home from working the
night shift, was sleeping, and their father was working.
Yesterday a Greene County magistrate held over the
prosecutor's charges that the parents, Sherry and Carl
Wright, with involuntary manslaughter and endangering
the welfare of a child. District Attorney David Pollock
said, "We feel it's criminal negligence to leave the
keys in
an accessible place," and to leave the residence and go
to
sleep without making sure the children were supervised.
The children--Drew Wright, 2, and his brother,
Christopher Wright, 5, died August 2 after climbing into
the trunk of the family's Chevrolet Geo to play with
kittens
and then pulling the lid closed. The coroner report said
the boys died from elevated heat and asphyxiation. He
found no signs that the boys suffered any form of abuse
or that a struggle may have taken place and ruled the
deaths an accident.
When asked whether the involuntary manslaughter
charges were perhaps too severe, the District Attorney
responded, "We do not expect to exact a punishment more
severe than they experienced with the death of their
children, but we do feel some responsibility to insure
the
well-being of the (couple's) third child. I believe
these
criminal charges will insure his safety and well-being."
In pursuing the case the local authorities ignored the
circumstances which the young couple face. Despite
working long hours, the parents, who live in a trailer
home near Waynesburg, barely earned enough to
support their family of five. At the time Sherry Wright
was working two low-paid jobs, including as a cashier at
a local convenience store. She began working the
midnight shift as part of the company's training program
to be promoted to a manager's job. Returning at home a 8
a.m., she fell asleep exhausted.
Carl Wright had only been able to find a part-time job,
working at a hunting and sporting club where he loaded
traps for shooters. His only pay was the tips he
received.
That morning he was called into work and left as soon as
Sherry returned.
Such a life is typical for young couples in southwestern
Pennsylvania where manufacturing and coal mining
jobs--destroyed in the 1980s--have been replaced with
low-paying service jobs and part-time and temporary
employment. The county has the highest unemployment
level in Pennsylvania, more than twice the state
average.
Average family income is $22,000, one-third lower than
the state's average. Forty-five percent of the children
in
area schools come from low income families.
Moreover, the state offers no public daycare or day camp
facilities for the working poor. And even if private
daycare
would have been opened on Sunday, the day of the
accident, the average cost for the two children--$60 a
day--is far more than what either of the Wrights' could
hope to earn in a day.
It has become commonplace for police, prosecutors,
judges
and politicians to respond to such tragedies--born of
terrible social conditions and the gutting of social
welfare
programs--by treating the victims as criminals.
The other side of this tragedy largely ignored by the
media is that safety advocates and consumer groups have
been pressuring the auto industry and government
regulators for years to install latches inside trunks in
order to allow people trapped inside to escape.
GM, Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler Corporation have
complained about the cost of installing the
devices--priced
at around $25 a vehicle--as standard equipment. The
auto companies have been protected by government
overseers who have declared that the equipment is not
necessary, and high-powered law firms who have
defended them from lawsuits and liability claims. Over
this past summer, eleven children including the two
Wright brothers died after accidentally getting locked
inside car trunks. In West Valley City, Utah five
children
suffocated after being trapped for at least an hour in a
trunk. In Gallup, New Mexico, four children died after
climbing into an opened trunk.
See Also:
Report documents growth of social antagonisms in
America
[16 October 1998]
Top of page
Readers: The WSWS invites your comments. Please send
e-mail.
Copyright 1998
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
