NCJ Number
161916
Journal
ABA Journal Volume: 82 Dated: (March 1996) Pages: 28,30
Date Published
1996
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the arguments for and against laws that make parents criminally liable for the offenses committed by their minor children.
Abstract
An increasing number of municipalities and at least 10 States have adopted laws that hold parents responsible for the crimes of their children. Under these laws, parents are being ordered to attend parenting classes, do community service, and attend school with their children. Others are being told to attend juvenile hearings and to participate in their children's probation and counseling. Some are being fined or ordered to reimburse the State for their children's care and to pay restitution. A few are ending up in jail. As more States consider such parental responsibility laws, opponents are mounting constitutional challenges to them. They claim the laws are vague and unrealistic. Supporters, however, say they will curb juvenile crime and place the burden for supervising minors on parents rather than the State. Others question whether the laws work. They say money used to prosecute parents could be better spent on programs to help children. Parents, say critics of such laws, must be helped and supported rather than punished, since it is unrealistic to expect that parents, particularly single mothers, can physically control their teenage sons.