Should Parents Be Held Responsible For Children's Crimes

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Parents should not be held responsible for their children committing unlawful acts with a firearm. The parent of the juvenile that commits a felony with a firearm should not be held responsible unless the parent specifically gave the juvenile a firearm or encouraged them to commit a felony or knew about the unlawful acts the juvenile was going to commit. State laws allow juveniles charged with serious felonies to be treated as adults and prosecuted in traditional criminal courts rather than a juvenile court. If a juvenile can be prosecuted as an adult for serious felonies, then they should be capable of taking accountability for their unlawful acts with a firearm. In most cases where a child commits a felony, it has been unaware by the parental …show more content…

No matter how many times people say a parent should know exactly what their child is doing at all times, it doesn’t happen. It is impossible to constantly know what an individual is doing every moment of the day and what they are thinking. A child can be planning a homicide and no one would ever know if they do not tell someone. How do you expect a parent to be held responsible for a crime their child made without them being aware of the situation? That is like saying the parent is responsible for their child stealing a vehicle and killing multiple people and being charged with vehicular manslaughter. If the child steals a firearm from the house or obtains it off the street or a friend then how is the parent the one responsible? Unless the child is mentally retarded then they are aware of their actions and should be held accountable for their actions and serve the proper sentence for their actions. Whether that sentence is being placed in detention prior to an adult trial, indicted into a juvenile facility, or be placed in placement for counseling followed by a psychological assessment to be conducted to determine the psychological state of mind of the

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