Adam Simonitch
2nd Period
Tommy, of age 16, steals a new pair of headphones from the store, he gets caught, and his parents get a fine later on that month for Tommy’s crime. Tommy gets punished by his parents, nothing that hasn’t happened before. But Tommy never felt the sting of the actual law, what’s keeping Tommy of 17 from stealing another item off of the shelf? Letting parents take responsibility for their children’s actions would be a debauched strategy; when parents start taking the blame I believe children will par-take in more crimes, act more rebellious, and grow up with barely any life lessons.
Parents who take blame for their child’s offences often find themselves with even a bigger problem than what they had in the first place. Towns and cities across the nation have enacted ordinances in response to growing concern of juvenile crime. In thirty-three states, local judges can require parents to pay bale for crimes committed by their children. City councils have designed late-night curfew, truancy, graffiti, gang enforcement, and gun ordinances that impose penalties and possible arrest for parents whose children repeatedly violate the ordinances' behavior standards. The children did not understand the term “consequences to their actions” unless they were punished in private by their parents. The strategy didn’t resolve the growing issue of youth criminal activity. (Strategy: Holding Parents Accountable for Their Children's Behavior).
Done differently in Texas; the city council in San Antonio, Texas, passed ordinances on juveniles and firearms, a daytime curfew, a late-night curfew, and graffiti removal. But this time each ordinance imposes fines on parents and the youth. The late-night curfew helped reduce crime committed by juveniles by 5 percent. Repeat violations of each ordinance have become less frequent as parents and youth have seen the penalties imposed. (Strategy: Holding