In Texas the authorities have no mercy on this one. You leave a kid in a car here, you go to the joint, and you go for a very long time. It may not be fair to those who will spend the rest of their lives in agonizing emotional punishment over their actions, but it sure works at making everybody else stop and think to be a little more careful, or the consequences could be an un-air conditioned prison farm out in the desert for the next 20 years being your new home.
It may be cruel, but its necessary.

Kirk Vining
5 boys, ages 2 - 22