On Friday, TLC yanked “19 Kids and Counting” from its schedule in the wake of Josh Duggar’s admission that he sexually assaulted five girls when he was a teenager–and that his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, dragged their feet in reporting it. From where I’m sitting, TLC had no other option. Mike Huckabee and others defending the Duggars seem to miss the fact that there’s a name for what the they and other adults involved in this did–child endangerment. And last time I checked, it’s highly illegal.
Remember, Jim Bob and Michelle were told about Josh fondling a girl in 2002. However, all they did was “discipline” Josh internally. There the matter stood until a second incident was reported in 2003. When Jim Bob took Josh to then-state trooper Jim Hutchens after the second incident, by all rights Hutchens should have booked Jim Bob and Michelle immediately on charges of child endangerment. After all, what happened in 2002 went well beyond just a couple of kids fooling around. It amounted to a felony.
Hutchens didn’t do anything more than give Josh a stern lecture. He should count himself extremely lucky that nothing further happened between 2003 and when Oprah’s staffers finally alerted law enforcement about the incidents in 2006. Given his failure to immediately arrest Jim Bob and Michelle for child endangerment and his failure to formally report the 2003 incident, Hutchens’ ultimate arrest on child porn charges can only be described as a case of karma.
One question is obvious–why would Jim Bob and Michelle sit on this? If they have anything left in them, they should tell us why they handled this in the way they did. But if they’re thinking of lobbying TLC to save their show, it ought to be a wasted effort. There is not, never has been, and never will be, a good-faith explanation for child endangerment. No responsible broadcaster would deal with a family headed by parents who finds it even remotely acceptable to sweep sexual assault and child endangerment under the rug. Demanding that Jim Bob and Michelle be held to account for this isn’t persecuting or judging them. It’s basic decency–and it’s a demand that just about any ordinary family would face in a similar situation.
