NCJ Number
224175
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 19 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 333-348
Date Published
September 2008
Length
16 pages
Annotation
In the context of laws that are increasingly holding parents accountable for the delinquent behaviors of their children, this study asked 147 juveniles in postadjudication residential facilities whether they believed their parents should also be held accountable for the juvenile’s illegal activities.
Abstract
The vast majority of these juveniles said that their parents had no responsibility for their illegal behavior. They further indicated that if they had known their parents would also be punished for their crimes, they would have been less likely to have committed the crimes. There were no links between the juveniles’ views on this issue and their demographic or social characteristics. The parental monitoring and involvement reported by the juveniles reflects a possible relationship between the juveniles’ views on their parents’ involvement and their parents’ responsibility. Of the only six juveniles who reported that their parents were not at all involved in their lives, four of them indicated that their parents bore some responsibility for their criminal behavior. The findings suggest that a juvenile’s knowledge of laws that in some way punish parents for the behavior of their children has a deterrent effect against the children engaging in delinquent behavior. If this is so, there should be a greater effort to inform juveniles about such laws. The youth who participated in the study were housed in one of the five Florida moderate or high-risk residential facilities that delivered faith and community-related service to their clients. The interview contained seven questions that assessed the juvenile’s beliefs and experience with their parents. The key question was, “Think back on the crime that led to your most recent arrest, how responsible do you think your parents were for your activities that led to the arrest?” 2 tables and 36 references