Juvenile

DeShanae Young P:2

I Realize that it's tough to monitor children 24/7, but I can't help but feel that if parents were held accountable for some of these crimes, perhaps Juvenile crimes would decrease Even the best, most conscientious parents cannot control everything their children do, especially as they become teenagers. All it takes to break the law sometimes is for them to become attracted to the wrong peer group, find themselves in an opportunistic situation, and do something impulsive. I think if a parent is clearly negligible, such as allowing their teens to drink or providing them with alcohol, then they should be held responsible. But in a situation where the kids are making their own choices and the parent has no knowledge of them, the parent should not be liable. It depends what it is and if the parents contributed at all. There are just too many variables. I've known some parents that worked hard to teach their children right from wrong, but the kids still screwed up and made poor decisions. Things like that is the responsibility of the child, not the parent. Other parents I've known didn't care enough to teach their child anything and set very poor examples, so when the child followed in their footsteps, I tend to blame the parents more than the child. Then there are things like under-aged drinking. Some parents actually ALLOW it in their home. For that, the parents should be held 100% responsible.

I also believe that some parents enable a child to make poor decisions. The child is your responsibility and if you don't teach them right from wrong, or don't spend time with them to the point where they do anything out of boredom, or whatever reason there is for them breaking the law, then yes that would definitely be the parents' fault. Kids are free-willed entities, not extensions of their parents. While a good parent can control and monitor their child to some extent, you have to give them a little taste of independence before you...