Parental Responsibility Laws

Other backers of parental responsibility laws, like Oregon state representative (D) Mike Lehman has gone on record to say “"If you are going to lock kids up for serious crimes, then parents should be held responsible." (Portner) The notion that lawmakers like Rep. Lehman wants to lock up child and parent is absolutely absurd. As if that parent doesn’t have enough to worry about as their child faces incarceration, they will have to also worry about their own sentence. This notion frightens many parents as times get tougher and the job market becomes overfilled. How will families recover from situations like this, having to be incarcerated for a crime they did not commit potentially losing their employment just so the state can line its pockets
According to information provided by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), “City officials who design the ordinances and sanctions must work with police and other personnel responsible for enforcing them to determine whether proposed sanctions will be effective deterrents for parents and youth.” (National Crime Prevention Council) What this plan lacks is a focus on basic parental education. The only people involved in this process appear to be out of touch public officials and authority figures. Why are city officials not collaborating with local community services which may have the ability or resources to bring awareness and positivity to communities? The voices of the people these laws impact are being completely muted using this method. It seems like the only approach being considered is to overuse authority in an attempt to force these families into submission. In addition the NCPC also openly admits that, “the sanctions are not likely to be effective among parents who cannot pay the fines.” It seems pretty evident that these laws show absolutely no promise in larger cities or areas that are severely impacted by poverty. This evidence supports the idea that these laws lack proper guidance and knowledgeable
Lawmakers do not consider the whole picture when they create these laws; And how could they? How could an upper class white male politician possibly understand what it’s like to be that single mother or poverty stricken family? In the article, “Why Not Blame the Parents” Eve M. Brank, JD, PHD poses these very important questions, “Will these laws have a disproportionate effect on minorities and single parents, in particular single mothers? What effect do these laws have on juveniles' sense of personal responsibility?” (Brank) There remains to be even a shred of empirical evidence that proves that these laws actually work as they were intended, and as Figure 1 shows there are more factors to consider than the parental factor. This is especially true as a child enters the teen years. Teenagers will always have a need to act on their own and make their own choices. Peer groups become one of the biggest influencing factors in a child or teen's life. Eventually this peer influence may be even greater than parental influence. Interestingly enough findings regarding juvenile delinquency have revealed that “Many children and adolescents with aggressive behaviors suffer from psychiatric disorders. A study evaluating juvenile delinquents in a detention center reported that over 60% had a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.” (Bastiaens) Not only do current laws discriminate against parents, they also