ALBANY – In the latest twist on "depraved indifference," the Court of Appeals yesterday held that the phrase does not have the same meaning in Social Services Law as it does in the Penal Law, and consequently the strictures that have frustrated and confounded criminal prosecutors do not apply in civil child-abuse cases.
The court’s unanimous ruling in Matter of Deshawn W., 71, upheld charges that a man inflicted "severe abuse" on a baby who suffered a broken collar bone and several fractured ribs. It also distinguishes and clarifies the standards for a criminal prosecution for depraved indifference as opposed to a prosecution under the Social Services Law.
