A 21-year-old Jersey City mother was sentenced to three years in prison March 11 for leaving her three young children alone while she went clubbing in Manhattan last summer.
The logic seems screwy: After one night without their mom, the kids (3, 2 and 7 months at the time) now get three years without her. Probably a lot more. The children, who were in good condition when the state took custody, have been in foster care since July.
Jessica Figueroa acted immaturely, selfishly and stupidly when she went bar-hopping — and she was underage at the time, to boot. A single mom with three children by the age of 20, she needs guidance with personal judgment.
But putting her in prison doesn’t help her become a better mom or keep the family together. The state’s strategy of incarceration and foster care is far more costly than a program of counseling and strict supervision.
There’s no excuse for her behavior. She invited tragedy. When police called her about 10 p.m., Figueroa needed three hours to find a ride back to Jersey City. So Superior Court Judge Sheila Venable was correct at the sentencing when she said, “We are very lucky you are not standing before me on a much more serious charge.”
But three years in lockup is excessive, especially when there is no evidence Figueroa had done this previously.
Sarah Hines, a Flanders mother who left her 12-year-old daughter alone for a week last June to get married in Idaho, received three years’ probation in January — a more reasonable sentence.
Jailing Figueroa won’t give her the parenting tools she needs, and it won’t give her kids the mother’s love they require. She needed Super Nanny, not a super-sized sentence.
This blog was created solely for my students to generate intellectual dialogue with their classmates. Reach one and teach one. Peace.
25 comments:
i think she deserves at least 1 year in prison for child abandonment, and receive the other 2 years on probation and also receive some parenting courses.
I think she should she should know better....
I believe the punishment fits. A year per child seems about right to me. When you become a mother,your life changes, you can't just leave your children and go clubbing. You get a babysitter or stay home. It's sad they will be without their mother, but given her lack of parenting skills, maybe they are better off. My sympathies are with them, not her. I hope they receive the emotional support and counseling they are going to need.
She deserves exactly what she gets, some hard time. Now she can use that time to actually think.
A.R 758197433
In my opinion I think she needs counseling, not a jail sentence because that wont help, she needs counseling so that she can see and understand what she have done wrong and so that she can learn from her mistakes.
yes
She deserve whatever the courts give her, those children deserve a better parent
My god I cant believe some of these comments, 3 years in prison is bollox. The woman obviously needs guidance not incarceraion, after the kids have been shunted from foster home to foster home and dosed up with ritalin the usa drug of force those poor kids will need a whole lot more than guidance.
Ah yes al she needs is a good hug a glass of warm milk and a therapist to tell her it's not her fault.
Three years sounds appropriate. There are consequences attached to stupid behaviour. Sometimes you get away with it sometimes you go to jail. Three years and her tubes should be tied so she doesn't continue to burden the system with another generation of non- contributors.
I say she need to be lock up for what she did.For one she need time to think about what she did i mean was it worth it, and no she more than a year cuz what about the kids and how they felt. Story like this make me want to cry.
I think she should go to prison because she put those kids in danger when she decided to go bar hopping.
I agree that what she did was not at all what a parent should do to their children. BUt i do feel that the 3 year sentence was a little over the top. She needs to be taught how to properly raise her children and should have been put on probation with counseling sessions mandatory....Nw those poor 3 children will be without their mother for who knows how long now since we all know how long it takes for a parent to be able to regain custody after being released from prison. The whole situation is just a shame. D.R. CJI-102 5661
No mother in their right mind should put going to a party or let alone to a club and leave her kids alone. She needs to be an example for all mothers of what not to do and the consequenes behind it.
I don't understand how a woman could endanger her own children to go to a party. It wasn't that serious. I hope that was the party of the year. Sometimes as a mother we have to make sacrifices but leaving minor children in the house was reckless endangerment. She should be an example of what a mother should not do. If she didn't have any children it would be understandable. what if something tragic would have happen then she wouldn't be able to live with herself. She will forever be haunted.
Arbubaker-1221
CJI 102
Wooowwww...some of these comments are just...wow...its just sad that at 20 she already has 3 kids. with that being said there is nothing ok about leaving your children to go club hopping as someone else stated when you have kids your life changes, you cannot just up and go. If you don't have a sitter STAY AT HOME...just for one night out on the town gets you 3 years in prison. Im sure she is thinking i should have stayed at home because it sure wasn't worth it. i have a 3 year old and an 8 year old an under no circumstance will i ever leave them in the house alone no matter who has an emergency.
2053
Going by last name ...I KNOW EXACTLY WHY she got her sentence and Ms Hines didn't ...
if you want to go by facts.... 3 hours in a car compared to a week in another state? please tell me which one deserved a harsher sentence ? Of course Ms Hines did but since Ms Hines is most likely white she only received probation for 3 years rather than imprisonment.
This punishment is outrageous... couldnt sentencing guidelines be used here ?
KT - 4624
I agree with you opinion, however since I am not a parent yet I don't have the experience to relate to another. I can relate as someone's child. As an adopted daughter, I definitely relate with millions of children who are in need of parental guidance, and best believe that what those little children need the most are loving parents and a family to care for and guide them. The mother sure needs personal counseling and rehabilitation to reform her into a better citizen and a better mother. And you are absolutely right about the cost of having her in jail for 3 years versus the alternative. She obviously needs help, being a young single mother of 3 babies. I just hope that she learns her lesson now that she is convicted, and her children are now lovingly taken care of. Hopefully, someday they all get reunited again, and forgiveness and love prevails in their hearts. -AVRB5611
The punishment fits the crime. She got what she deserved. As stated, it is unknown if she has left the children unattended before, so it is possible that she has. The sentence might not make her a better mother but it should make her a better person and choose more wisely in the future.
AC-2792
I think the punishment may be a little harsh. However that is besides the point the point this woman who is really a kid herself is not ready to be a mother. She should not be trusted with children. Having kids so young and so close apart just shows how immature she really is. Where are the father for these kids? Anyone with half a brain should know not to keep 3 kids who are so young home alone. Anything can happen. This woman having 3 kids before she was 20 and leaving them home while she can go clubbing to most likely meet another guy to have another child should be in therapy. What a mess she should be ashamed and can have fun in jail maybe that will get her to grow up.
NS-3498
I think it was a right choice for the young mother to receive jail time. She knows right from wrong. She decided to leave her 3 children, all infants, at home by themselves. We don't know how long she was out, so the infants didn't eat, have their dippers changed, etc. They could have gotten really hurt not having adults around, luckily they did not! 3 years for 3 children is reasonable to me. Also, she could receive guidance/counseling for her actions.
A.A. 5111
I definitely think that she needs a lot of guidance and help. She needs to be punished for her actions, because being labeled as irresponsible and immature is definitely being nice about it, but luckily for her the children weren't harmed in any way when they were found. It's disgusting how someone can just abandon their children like that to have some fun for herself. If she didn't want the responsibility of being a mother she should've thought about that before having sex.
CH 5170
She definitely deserves this harsh punishment. You’re a mother that has 3 children, you are inquired to look after and support these children. You are not supposed to go to the club and have the time of your life. There is no excuse on why she left her children to go to the club. I don't want to hear the excuse that she is young; she knows the difference between right and wrong. She is legally an adult and an adult should know what is right and what is wrong. The woman was underage as well to even go into the club that she attended. A perfect quote from the show "Key and Peele" best describes this situation. In the show the character quotes " ain't no of yall old enough to go to the dam club, ridiculous." She deserves the punishment 100 %, no question. –JC5020
Please. She deserves every bit of her sentence. First of all her kids are better off in the system. Second, she belongs in jail where her legs will stay closed as she thinks long and hard about reproducing ever again. Lastly, I have to repeat number one, her kids are better off in the system- she would have done it again and I'm sure she's done it in the past-- straight recipe for disaster. She had no business having kids in the first place. smh
Leaving her children home alone did put them in great danger and was a horrible decision on her part. If she wanted to go out, she should have at least planned ahead to get someone to watch her children instead of just leaving them alone. Parents make mistakes but this is not a little mistake. She deserved to be punished, whether 3 years in prison is a little excessive or not is not mine to call. But the overall actios she made that night were poor. Unfortunately the kids are the ones who have to suffer the most. JS-1684
First off, for someone who has three kids already at the age of 20 and all very small still. this was not her first time leaving those poor babies by themselves. this was just her first time being caught that she left them alone. Someone like that obviously isn't ready for kids if she's leaving them alone to go party. Its common sense so i do feel she got what she deserve. This was not something small like she went to the bathroom and the feel or something, she went from jersey city all the way to new york city to go party. Unacceptable.
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