The current Class D crime of endangering the welfare of a child under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 17-A, section 554, subsection 1, paragraph C is established when a person violates a duty of care or protection to a child and thereby recklessly endangers the child. This bill amends the provision to describe the crime by attaching the culpable mental state element of recklessness to the violation of the duty. The bill amends the laws governing the crime by enacting more serious penalty provisions if a person's reckless violation of the duty of care or protection results in serious bodily injury to or death of a child. If the child suffers serious bodily injury as a result, the crime is a Class C crime; if the child dies, the crime is a Class B crime.