Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of Their Children

Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of Their Children Who is guilty when teens break the law? Should parents be blamed? Read to know who should be responsible for the crimes of teens. It’s no secret that teens break the law, thinking they’re basically invincible. They engage in underage drinking, vandalism, also possession, and under the influence, of drugs. But then some young people commit much bigger crimes – felonies such as breaking and entering into a house, grand theft auto, even murder, and rape. Children of all ages are capable of breaking the law, but it can be speculated that adolescents tend to break the law more. Unfortunately, teens in American engage in some pretty risky behavior in their middle and high school years. And unfortunately, these crimes have severe consequences that last a lifetime. While these minors are often thought of as children simply making mistakes, they are still rational, mostly reasonable human beings who knowing exactly what they are doing. So, therefore, their crimes should not make their parents responsible. Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of Their Children? Could not, for one, be responsible for the crimes of their children, because any person of sound mind is a rational being. They know when they are committing a crime and doing something wrong. It has nothing to do with their parents – unless the parents are condoning, encouraging or taking part in the crime; then, and only then, should parents be held responsible for their children’s crimes. It is rarely the parent’s fault, even if they do teach their children right from wrong. Many people attempt to commit a crime because they think they can get away with it. The same goes for teens committing a crime: They do it, most of the time because they anticipate getting away with it. This is no reflection of one’s upbringing – only the way that person views right from wrong. Even if the children are diagnosed as mentally unsound, insane, crazy, manic-depressive, it’s still not the parent’s fault. SINGLE-PARENT CHILDREN BEHAVIOUR If someone’s child commits a crime and gets caught for it, a parent should not be held responsible for the child because it is the child committing the crime, not the adult. Some may argue how a child’s sense of right and wrong derives from the way their parents raised them – which is true; however, in the case of committing crimes, a child can still steal a pretty piece of jewelry from a friend even if they were taught as a child not to steal. This has nothing to do with the parent, only the child, or teen, committing the crime. If the child commits the crime, they should be at fault and charged appropriately. If one’s child commits the crime, unless the parent directly took part in the illegal activity associated with their child, the parent should without a doubt never be held responsible – not morally, emotionally or legally – for this crime. Parents Are Not Guilty! Unless the parent assisted in helping the child commit the crime –underage drinking drug usage, for example – the adult should never be held responsible for the child’s actions. If a kid gets in trouble, it’s easy to blame the parents, attribute the mishap to how they were raised, the kind of family they were born to. But that is what is wrong with this country: no one takes responsibility for their own actions, especially if they’re minors. It’s a major problem. This way, people become adults never being accountable for anything – they just blame it on someone else. This isn’t the way to go; all it does is condition someone that they are not going to face consequences when the do wrong. Why is that detrimental? Because a person gets a pretty rough reality check as an adult when they are faced with legal charges for committing a crime. At that point, their parents surely aren’t even in the picture. Only the child/teen sho uld get penalized for committing and crime. IS GUN CONTROL AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF REDUCING CRIME In conclusion, we all make mistakes, and many of us, even on accident, commit crimes (just look at how often people send friends or family members prescription pain-relieve medication. One word: felony). And when people committing crimes are caught, they get charged. The same goes for children, mostly adolescents. They generally know when they are doing something wrong, so they should always be held responsible for their actions – and not their parents. The same, of course, applies to teenagers: when they get caught committing a crime, their parents should never be held responsible unless the parents assisted in the crime. It’s time to hold young people responsible for their actions.