Criminal checks

Like many parents, I have followed the story of Madeleine McCann with strong emotions. For the very few of you who are not familiar with the tale, a brief recap: Four year-old Madeleine visited a resort town in Portugal with her parents and one year-old twin siblings. On May 3 her parents went to dinner with friends at a restaurant 100 yards away, from which their apartment was at least partly visible, but they left the children alone. (The resort facility, at Praia de Luz, offers babysitting and day care but the McCanns did not use these options.) The door to the apartment was probably unlocked. Every thirty minutes a parent would come back to check on the children. At 10PM, they discovered that Madeleine was missing from her bed. She is still missing.

The story has received worldwide media attention. Why does it affect us so? As tragic as the story is, dozens of children are lost every day. Part of it, no doubt, has to do with the behavior of the parents. In America at least, deliberately leaving children so young unattended is not generally […]