parental liability
...ording to The National Center For Juvenile Justice”(simplefamily.com). There are many different penalties that go along with the severity of a crime. “Penalties range from attending parenting classes or performing community service to contempt of court, fines or even jail time” (simplefamily.com).In the United States there have always been mechanisms to hold parents accountable for their children's actions (Cahn, 1996; ). For example, "early parental liability statutes authorized the juvenile courts to assert jurisdiction over parents (and often over any other adult) who had contributed to the delinquency of a minor" (Cahn, 1996, p. 405). However, in the past 10 years, parental liability laws have increased in popularity in response to fears of increasing juvenile crime (Cahn, 1996; Parents did nothing..., 1996). As different states have different laws some to me seem unreasonable .“A Florida law orders parents to pay for their child’s prosecution. A California measure fines and imprisons parents for failing to adequately supervise their children. Alabama and Wyoming laws require criminal contempt and fines or imprisonment for parents who fail to help their child comply with court-ordered terms” (simple family.com). “For crimes that’s are more likely to be committed by younger people - breaking an entering , theft, and motor vehicle theft or vandalism- less than 20 percent of the incidents are resolved by charge or otherwise settled”( Simon Fraser News July 18,1996 vol.6.no.6 by Stephen T Easton, Fraser Institute Scholar). So I ask the question who should bear responsibility of those criminal acts when we catch the person who committed the crime? If parents are held responsible for their children’s crimes when they are at a respectable age, when will they learn. If there parents take the fall when they do something against the law , they will never learn. These children will grow up thinking they will never get in trouble or get caught until one day they commit such a terrible crime that they go to jail for many years or even life. “Parental liability laws have emerged during a time of increasing culpability of youthful offenders{cahn,1996). Parental liability laws suggest that young people are not fully responsible for their actions(cahn,1996).However a principle tenet of the Young offenders Acts set out in the Declaration Of Principle are that young people are to take responsibility for their actions. It is inappropriate and counterproductive to send such a confusing message to young people and their families. If parents are held accountable as well as or instead of the young person, young people will not learn to take responsibility for their actions and will be less likely to alter their behavior”. “Parental liability” is a phrase with many connotations in the legal world. Typically, it implies making parents responsible for the health and well-being of their children. Parents can be brought to court and forced to pay child support, be convicted of child neglect, and the list goes on. Harsher parental liability laws come under much greater attack, though, and their benefits to our society as a whole are frequently debated. These laws interpret “parental liability” as holding parents and guardians responsible for the criminal or delinquent behavior of their children. Maximum penalties for the children’s infractions can include heavy fines or even jail time for the parents. In any case, parental liability laws imply that bad parenting causes delinquent behavior in juveniles. If a child causes harm, it is automatically assumed that the parents are at fault for not teaching that child otherwise. This may be a faulty assumption, because some children will disobey and find ways around punishment by their parents no matter how good or...