Parental Responsibility: If your Kid commits a Crime should you be charged too?

[Lovebabz]

I have been thinking about parental responsibility for quite some time. Should parents be held accountable when their children commit crimes, or skip school, or hang in gangs? Should parents be hauled into court as co-conspiritors to their offspring's criminal acts? This is huge, because it hasn't been done...yet. As we hear more and more about kids killing other kids at some point people are going to start looking at parents as the first line of defense in stopping crime. I was so worn down when I heard the news about the college students shot execution style in Newark, but I was even more devastated to know that one of the shooters was a 14 year old boy. What? Where was his parents and why didn't they have better control over this kid? And why is everyone looking at Mayor Corey Booker as if he did the shootings. At the end of the day, parents have to have some accountability here. Too many young people are commiting senseless acts of violence and it's got to stop. I am really interested in hearing what Black parents have to say on this since this seems to be a huge problem in our communities.

[Shmika]

It depends on they type of parents these kids have. I mean if you are buying your kids all these video games that have all this violence shooting and killing in it I think its almost like brainwashing some of these kids especially when they are so young. Also when you allow your children at such a young to also watch all of these violent moves with a lot of sexual content. Also the music that they may listent to it can be Pop Rock or Rap/ Hip hop has all these explicit lyrics they listen and many young childern undersatnd what these people are saying they see these people living these lavish lifestyles and that what they want to do when they grow up so sometimes they may take a song to literally and that could lead a child down the wrong path as well. Only we as parents can control that what they watch listen to and play.

Some may say well she is sheltering her child too much but Im not. I have a 4 year old hes in head start now and some of the children he goes to school with are less priveledged than others and their parents are young themselves so there children are watching saying and playing the same games that they are and so that just leaves these little children with that impression in their minds that this is how its supposed to be so they really do have to chance to experience a youthful child hood and so they are just stuck following the learder and in some cases the leader is not a good one.

Not saying that all black famalies are this way but 90% of the time when you hear about black children commiting a crime its because they have come form under privileged circumstances. Not that its ok but these childer have been learning from what they see and thats the norm for them.

[Aiesha Turman]

Parents cannot be held responsible for all of their children's mistakes or bad choices. The adolescent mind is a very mysterious entity and while they may know right from wrong, they can easily (due to peer pressure, the need to belong, or just plain idiocy) make mistakes. However, if your child is a habitual bully, shoplifter, etc., and you have been clled in to the school, precinct, etc. on more than one occasion and you fail to do what is needed to get your kid on the right track, then the parent should be held responsible.

Video games and rap music are not the problem -- I cam of age when NWA and 2 Live Crew were all the rage and Mortal Kombat was the best-selling video game and have never stabbed or maimed anyone. It's complacency, lack of parenting skills and ignorance.

[Jacqueline Williams]

I am also tired of the senseless violence that's plaguing our youth. I was so tired of the violence that my husband and I co-authored a book entitled "Think 5 - Sometimes Life Presents No 2nd or 3rd Chances." The book is a self-help guide for teens and young adults designed to assist them in thinking before they act. The book is divided into chapters Thoughts, Actions, Effects, Results, and Solutions. In the book, we also ask the reader to evaluate the effect of their actions in time increments of 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks, 5 months, and 5 years. There's biographies as well as Penal Code information. The book has been well received by parents and believe it or not our targeted population our youth and young adults.

Please feel free to visit our webpage at www.ithink5.com Please pass our website information to others. Like you, we're tired. We encourage parents and mentors to read the book with the person.

In regards to your questions about parents being responsible for their child's actions, I think it depends on the situation. Some parents are not active, however, I know some parents that are active but they're working honest jobs sometimes more than one being a good provider, but their child is somewhere making negative choices.

It Takes A Village to Raise A Child....