Letting children play alone outside could be a crime in the US

Ian Frisch

AI generated

UNITED STATES – Mallerie Shirley knew something was wrong the second she saw her then six-year-old son walk through the front door. It was November 2025, and he had just returned from riding his scooter to a playground about 400m from their home in Atlanta.

She remembers how he looked: shoulders slouched, eyes cast downwards. She asked him what happened.