Children are committing crimes, from theft to school killings. Should a child who commits a crime be tried as an adult, and sent to jail where adults serve their time? Yes, absolutely. Should parents be held accountable legally and financially for their child’s actions and given the same treatment? I say no.
Children today who commit these crimes are getting a pat on the back. Too many court systems have put the blame on the parent. These are parents who are Law abiding citizens, who would give the world to their children. Yet the direction of the court continues to point the finger at the parents, and send the parents directly to jail. Meanwhile, the kids who have committed the crime are sent home, without parental guidance.
There have been too many thefts and school killings. Does that mean that, if a child commits a crime such as theft, they should be held in juvenile detention for twenty-four hours and send home? No, I feel they should get the same treatment no matter what their age is. Children know right from wrong. They should be sent directly to jail to pay the price for breaking and entering and stealing someone else’s things.
If a child commits murder, whether it was planned or not, should they be tried as an adult and placed in an adult prison. Yes they should. But they should be segregated by their age. A child under the age of eighteen would be placed in a population away from the adults. But they would be in the same facility. After the age of twenty-one, they then would be placed in a population with the adult in prison for the remainder of their sentences.
I realize that parents are an influence over their children. The role of a parent is to provide a loving home, but it is also to teach the concepts of what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong.
Whether the crime is theft or murder, that child should know right from wrong and whether they stole from someone or murder, that child should surely reap what they sow. Regardless if they are eighteen or not, they need to step up to the plate and be tried as an adult and pay the price instead of the parents. Maybe then, they will be able to think back and see what they could have done right to prevented such acts.