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How Letting a Young Child Go for a Walk Can Become a Criminal Offense

One can debate the wisdom of individual parenting decisions without believing they should be criminalized.

Jonathan H. Adler | 9.8.2026 3:18 PM

Some readers may have seen Lenore Skenazy's Reason article about how local authorities in Williamsburg, Virginia prosecuted Karyann Parkinson because she decided to let her five-year-old son walk by himself to collect goose feathers by a pond in a gated community. There is more to the story, but not anything that makes the government's actions seem any more reasonable.

I was at Ms. Parkinson's trial. She is a former student and neighbor. On this basis The Free Press asked for my thoughts on her prosecution and conviction. My article begins:

On a sunny day in June, Karyann Parkinson made a fateful........

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