Parents' Responsibility for Child's Crime

Many crimes and social problems are caused by children. Despite the damage these teenage criminals cause, parents are not held responsible in most countries. This essay will discuss whether parents should be forced to pay for their children's crimes.

Children do not need to be adopted to get involved in power plays. In such cases, the legal system can actually undercut the authority of mothers or fathers, and make it harder for them to control their youngsters in the future. In extreme cases, parents may turn over responsibility to social agencies. For example, many children enter foster and group home care because their parents are at their wits' end.

Penalizing parents can also be risky in other ways for some children and adolescents. If parents are very frustrated by the child's continuing delinquent acts or very angry over being held responsible for them, the door may be open for child abuse. This is especially true if parents have already used heavy physical discipline or have actually abused the child in the past. In the worst case, youngsters may end up in care of a Children's Aid Society, at much greater cost to society than what is gained through any fine levied against the parent.

A far better strategy is to make the child or teenager, not the parents, responsible. Options include reasonable restitution if there has been damage. The money should not come out of the parents' pocket, but from the child's. If payment is impossible or does not fit the crime, then the young person should be required to undertake community service. A realistic plan needs to be set out for payment or service and then the plan should be enforced.

If parents are able to ensure that the child follows this plan, all to the good. However, responsibility for such enforcement should lie with a probation officer or other legal official, because parents and child may be at loggerheads. Only if parents actively interfere with or oppose the plan of action should they be penalized.

By taking responsibility in this way, young people will learn the consequences of their actions. As a result, they are the more likely to learn the importance of law-abiding behaviour.

There are many reasons why parents should not be responsible for crimes committed by teenage children. First of all, teenagers today are independent. They often move out of the parent's house at 18 years of age or younger. They are expected to learn to take care of themselves and make their own decisions, and not stay like small children attached to their parents. Secondly, parents are working. They cannot watch their adolescent children all the time. A third point is that even children from good families can sometimes commit crimes. Parents should not be responsible if they have worked hard to raise their children properly. (Burniat: 42)

Children can commit a crime and parents can be punished.What good does that do for the child(s)? What about the media? Are they to be punished ...