A Baby is Too Young to Drive A Getaway Car

I’ve been disturbed by a recent news report involving a bank robber who may have brought a child with him while committing crimes, as well as a recent story about a rise in child abuse in my area. Has the recent economic crisis pushed some individuals over the edge, making them so desperate that they not only begin a life of crime, but in the midst of this, forget that their little one is still strapped into a car seat behind them? Are they so out of touch with reality that they don’t realize that their baby is too young to drive the getaway car? Or are they unaware that their child is an innocent victim, not be tied up in or held responsible for their parents' woes?
How exactly does this situation happen? If not mental illness, is this mostly situations where a parent is under the influence of drugs or alcohol? Are they so greatly under the influence that they’re incapable of realizing that, for instance, it’s a bad idea to bringing their child with them while they commit a robbery? At the very least, did it occur to them that it would have been a better idea to make sure they had a babysitter on this particular day? Worse, if the thought did occur to them, did they simply shrug it off?
There have been cases where the parent intentionally uses a child to aid them in the commission of a crime. This might be done in ways in which the child is unaware how their assistance is contributing to a crime, or, in some situations, the child is aware that they are doing something wrong, but they aid their parents anyway. It could be difficult for a vulnerable child to get out from under the thumb of parental authority, even when that authority is using them terribly.
In many ways, I can understand a parent stealing to feed their starving child. It might not be a good idea to have their child with them when they do this, but I could see it happening, in a moment of blurry weakness. I feel empathy for anyone in such desperate socio-economic circumstances, and I feel inclined to judge less the thief and more those social and political policies that lead anyone into such straits.
Ultimately, I seem to have more questions than answers. Perhaps, the recent news stories are not really a reflection new trends. The sad reality is that some parents hurt their kids. This is, as we all know, not a new thing. Sometimes this is hurting is intentional; sometimes it is an unintended, but perhaps no less destructive, byproduct of that parent’s choices and actions. Who can really know what might be going on in the heads of these news-making parents? Of course, this would be assuming, and this is a big assumption, that they were thinking at all.

Here are the two news stories I referred to in this post:
"FBI: Bank robber may have kid in tow" http://bit.ly/LKHK7
"Child abuse cases up during a stressful economy" http://bit.ly/2bdvp

Until I type again,
Kami