Juvenile Crime: A Problem of the Delinquent Child or the “Delinquent” Parent?
by Holding parents accountable for their children’s criminal activities could help reduce crimes being committed by juveniles.
Parents of victims of the school tragedies all stated they feel just that way. They have stated that if the parents of the murderers had supervised their children better then there is a great possibility that these senseless deaths would not have happened because the parents would have been aware of the emotional difficulties their children were obviously undergoing when they felt their only option was to kill or try to kill their classmates.
Until recently, parents could only be held accountable in civil court cases and could not be prosecuted for criminal charges unless the state they reside in had a statute specifically designed to punish parental negligence and lack of supervision, if their child commits a crime. Many parents of victims have begun suing parents of juvenile murderers because of this now. This has, however, prompted state legislation to implement specific criminal laws each state needs. In California, Illinois, and Oregon, parents who are found guilty of failing to adequately supervise their children can be sentenced to up to a year in jail and fined tens of thousands of dollars. These states feel that if there is no repercussion for the crimes their children commit, they are less likely to try to stop them and be involved with their everyday lives. By being held accountable, these states are hoping families will reunite as before and juvenile crime will drop tremendously. Father George Horan was quoted as saying, “…we must be held to certain standards in our community for the treatment we give our children”. Parents are supposed to know better than their children, therefore, guiding them down the right road to adulthood. If a parent should somehow fail in doing so, then they are at least partially responsible for that child’s misguidance.
It is hard to say just how well these measures will work because they are recent, however, according to Police Chief Randy Lunsford of Silverton, Oregon, “…juvenile crime in a town of 6,400 people has dropped by 44.5 percent” when a law was put into place that stated a parent could be fined for their child’s criminal offences. This is something that should be at least given a great deal of thought on and not dismissed easily. After all, the chances of it actually working are a lot higher of it only adding to our nation’s juvenile delinquency problems that are currently taking its toll on our society.
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