Second Degree Cruelty to Juveniles Defense Attorney Second Degree Cruelty to juveniles is a very serious charge. A parent who has been charged with this offense is facing the risk of losing parent rights and going to prison. What is Second Degree Cruelty to Juveniles? Second degree cruelty to juveniles is the intentional or criminally negligent mistreatment or neglect by anyone over the age of seventeen to any child under the age of seventeen which causes serious bodily injury or neurological impairment to that child. "Serious bodily injury" means bodily injury involving protracted and obvious disfigurement or protracted loss [...]