Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> Legal Blog Watch

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

Parents Tattoo Their Kids, Use Costanza Defense: 'Was That Wrong?'

By Bruce Carton

ADVERTISEMENTS

Let's start off with the simplest form of this issue: Should it be legal for parents to put real tattoos on their children? A Georgia woman, Patty Jo Marsh, apparently thought it was a fine idea. She said (after being released from jail on bail), "I'm their mother. Shouldn't I be able to decide if they get one?" The Georgia Department of Family and Children's Services felt otherwise. After being contacted by the biological mother of two of the children, who complained "the tats wouldn't wash off," the agency temporarily removed the Marsh's seven children from the home and called in police. The parents, Marsh and her husband Jacob Edwards Bartels, were then arrested and charged with three counts each of illegal tattooing, second-degree child cruelty and reckless conduct. The story actually gets worse. It turns out that the parents used a needle made from a guitar string that they connected to an electric motor to tattoo six of their seven children (and themselves). Five of the kids (ages 10 to 17) had a cross tattooed on their hands and the sixth had "mom and dad" tattooed on his arm. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Marsh says (in a defense...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on January 05, 2010 (boomark / email).