Professor Bellinger
English 1101
12 February 2018
Should Parents Be Held Responsible for the Crimes of their Children?
A child is a young human being that is under the age of majority or under the age puberty and they seek the guidance of an adult such as a parent or a legal guardian. A parent is a mother, father, or legal guardian that is responsible for parenting or guiding a child in the right direction.
A parent generates a parent-child relationship with their children that consists of a wide variety of behaviors, feelings and expectations. Every parent-child relationship is unique being that every parent has their own way of guiding their children. Although parents assist their children by guiding them, that doesn’t mean …show more content…
Some will say that it the parents’ responsibility to make sure that they know where and what their children are doing at all times, but that can be nearly impossible. Most of the children that are convicted of crimes each day, commit the crimes when they are not in the presence of their parents. How could the parent be responsible when they weren’t with the child when they made the decision to commit the crime? Children seek guidance and their parents are supposed to guide them, therefore parents should be held accountable for crimes that their children commit. A child is a representation of their parent, meaning they will only do what their parent has taught them, what they have witnessed their parent do, or what their parents allow them to do. A child is a minor which means that they are under the age of full responsibility. If a child is under the age of full responsibility that would make them only partly responsible, the other part of responsibility would have to be linked to the parent or legal guardian of the child. If the parent or legal guardian is partly responsible for their children’s actions, being that children are minors, the parent or legal guardian should receive the punishment of their children’s …show more content…
The responsibilities of adults and children vary being that adults have more responsibilities than children. One of the main responsibilities of a parent is guiding their children. Guiding children in the right direction could help the child go down the right path in life and avoid the wrong path. The guidance that parents provide is very beneficial but sometimes the guidance of parents is not always what a child seeks. Sometimes children seek the guidance of their friends or peers which leads them to bad situations such as committing crimes. If children aren’t held accountable for their actions, society could be negatively affected in the future being that the child will have to grow up and become an adult, but they were enable all of their life. Enabling a child at a young age could cause them to grow up and believe that they can get away with the same things that they got away with at a young