Joycelynn Dylewski was 3 years old when authorities arrived at her home in Corinth, New York, in February 2025. They found her unable to breathe, covered in lice, with severely decayed teeth and with clonidine — a prescription medication that had never been prescribed to her — in her system. She had not seen a doctor in the previous 10 months. She died of anemia caused by a lice infestation that her parents allowed to progress for weeks, possibly months.
On June 22, Matthew and Samantha Dylewski sat before a judge who described their home as “deplorable and unfit for any child to live in”. Both pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide. The maximum sentence the system could impose on them: 16 months to 4 years in prison. At the hearing, the father said he wished he had died instead of his daughter. The couple has four other children.
Joycelynn’s death sparked a wave of outrage that reached the state Senate. Lawmaker Testico is pushing the so-called “Joycelynn’s Law”, which would raise the maximum sentence for criminally negligent homicide of a minor to up to 20 years in prison. Because for many, 4 years is not justice.