Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of Their Children? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Children of all ages are capable of breaking the law. Yet when children especially teenagers break the law by acting unruly they think they are invincible. Parents play an authority figure in their children's life making them be held accountable when juveniles engage in criminal behavior or activities. Parents form the model figure for their children's mentorship as they mold and nurture them during growth, therefore, they are accountable for their conduct. Although children, especially in their teenage stages, can be considered to have gained independence in deciding on the consequences of their actions, their parents are responsible for their conduct, especially in criminality. Many parents feel like they are judged wrongly when their children engage in criminal activities or actions but they role in molding and dealing with juvenile misconduct contribute to extreme behavioral challenges in their children. This paper will conduct and argumentative discussion on whether parents should be held responsible for the crimes of their children.

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Anyone of sound mind is rationally responsible for their conduct. Children may be aware when they do something wrong and could not have anything to do with their parents. Not unless parents encourage, condone, or take part with their children in engaging in criminality they should not fully bare responsibility (Geis & Binder 303). Children engage in crime is not fully attributed to the parenting style but also from other external factors making children be fully responsible for their actions and decisions without necessarily engaging their parents. However, most of the incidences of juvenile misconduct and criminality are related to upbringing characteristics making parents bear the blame for their children's criminal engagements. Children brought up in violence and the crime-prone home environment is highly likely to engage in criminality thus, laying the blame for their conduct on their parents. Child negligence and other forms of harsh or irresponsible upbringing hold parents accountable for their children misconduct and criminal engagement (Smith 2012). Therefore, parents with direct or indirect influence on their children's engagement in crime should be punished for the crime of their children.

Believes that parents are responsible for their children's conduct validates the argument that the parents are to be held responsible for their children's crime. This argument is derived from the facts that parents are the initial socialization group that children interact and copy behavior from aping them. Although parents of criminal children do not necessarily have to be criminals themselves they are held responsible for the conduct because they know everything their children engage. At times parents tend to cover up for juvenile misconduct making them culpable when children to the continued trend of criminal activities they children engage in. Parents' character and behavior is also another important aspect that attributes to children's engaging in crime and leading to them being blamed for the consequences of their children's crime (Morgridge 335). Furthermore, parents have complete control over their offspring even during teenage in other crisis when they feel like they are responsible to make valid decisions. It's the parents' duty to guide their children throughout to ensure that they are responsible and accountable for their conduct. Moreover, parental influence attribute to their tendencies in committing crime making them liable to the criminality of their children.

Conclusion

In conclusion, parents contribute greatly to their children's conduct and are liable legally to be held accountable for their children's crimes. Parents with children accused of juvenile crime and misconduct are due to their parents' upbringing environment and behavior. However, parents being punished for their children's crimes do not actually solve the problems and tendencies of children committing more crime in the future.

Works Cited

Geis, Gilbert & Binder, Arnold Sins of Their Children: Parental Responsibility for Juvenile Delinquency, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 303 (1991). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp/vol5/iss2/4

Morgridge, Joan When Does Parental Liability End?: Holding Parents Liable for the Acts of Their Adult Children, Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, 1990 22 (1), 335. Available at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/luclj/vol22/iss1/10

Smith, Nicole Parent Responsibility for Children's Crimes: A Legal and Ethical Discussion, articlemyriad, 2012. Available at http://www.articlemyriad.com/parent-responsibility-childrens-crimes-legal-ethical-discussion/.