The question of parental responsibility is an interesting one. I worked for over forty years with state wards and young offenders, A question I was often asked when I told people where I worked was “How much of the offending is the parents fault”.
I spent six years working in an assessment centre for State wards. It’s where the kids came when they were removed from their family situation. It would probably be regarded as a post ‘stolen generation’ time, but indigenous children were over-represented, much as they are in the juvenile justice system. There were also many non-indigenous kids and a more common theme for the intervention into their home life was probably ‘poverty’.
With both young offenders and children in need of protection (I’ll call them ‘Wards’ because that was the terminology of the time) there would be a case management plan and regular ‘case conferences’ that involved meetings of Centre admin staff, Psychologists, District officers, Teachers, House parents, Youth workers….and parents.
Rather than confident, well dressed, articulate and educated folks, the parents often presented as defensive, confused, and inadequate (I can’t control him/her)… and poor. Rarely was it both parents attending , and more often than not…just Mum.
So speaking (with a fair bit of generalisation, but experience)…
For young offenders (especially the hard-core group)…
What causes the offending behaviour.?
What aspects play into it?
Lack of parental control (certainly plays a part)
Peer Pressure. (plays a big part)
Boredom
Mental health issues
Educational instability (I had many kids at 14-15 who couldn’t read)
The thrill of it (Why steal a car and abandon it an hour later if not just for a bit of fun? )
So how much blame can be assigned to parents for the behaviour of hard core young offenders?
Parents sometimes aren’t even in the picture (the child is already under state protection, fostered)
Kids often come from single parent families.
The parents of young offenders have often had their own personal experience of incarceration.
Domestic violence and alcoholism are features of home life.
Families were often dependent on welfare and/or are struggling financially.
Throw in the fact that families were often large, and parents had responsibilities for younger children.
The point of all this is that we can’t judge the parents of young offenders by our own personal levels of responsibility in terms of education, wealth, parental skills and upbringing. For most of us it’s chalk and cheese. We are lucky enough to never have had to experience that background.
It’s a cycle of crime and the hard -core young offender is often the product of the influence of older offenders in terms of parents, siblings, other relatives and peers.
Financial and /or custodial penalties for the parents of young offenders would more than likely add to the burden.
While I understand the argument for some action against a parent of a hard core young offender, there wouldn’t be many in a position to cope with a penalty.
I spent six years working in an assessment centre for State wards. It’s where the kids came when they were removed from their family situation. It would probably be regarded as a post ‘stolen generation’ time, but indigenous children were over-represented, much as they are in the juvenile justice system. There were also many non-indigenous kids and a more common theme for the intervention into their home life was probably ‘poverty’.
With both young offenders and children in need of protection (I’ll call them ‘Wards’ because that was the terminology of the time) there would be a case management plan and regular ‘case conferences’ that involved meetings of Centre admin staff, Psychologists, District officers, Teachers, House parents, Youth workers….and parents.
Rather than confident, well dressed, articulate and educated folks, the parents often presented as defensive, confused, and inadequate (I can’t control him/her)… and poor. Rarely was it both parents attending , and more often than not…just Mum.
So speaking (with a fair bit of generalisation, but experience)…
For young offenders (especially the hard-core group)…
What causes the offending behaviour.?
What aspects play into it?
Lack of parental control (certainly plays a part)
Peer Pressure. (plays a big part)
Boredom
Mental health issues
Educational instability (I had many kids at 14-15 who couldn’t read)
The thrill of it (Why steal a car and abandon it an hour later if not just for a bit of fun? )
So how much blame can be assigned to parents for the behaviour of hard core young offenders?
Parents sometimes aren’t even in the picture (the child is already under state protection, fostered)
Kids often come from single parent families.
The parents of young offenders have often had their own personal experience of incarceration.
Domestic violence and alcoholism are features of home life.
Families were often dependent on welfare and/or are struggling financially.
Throw in the fact that families were often large, and parents had responsibilities for younger children.
The point of all this is that we can’t judge the parents of young offenders by our own personal levels of responsibility in terms of education, wealth, parental skills and upbringing. For most of us it’s chalk and cheese. We are lucky enough to never have had to experience that background.
It’s a cycle of crime and the hard -core young offender is often the product of the influence of older offenders in terms of parents, siblings, other relatives and peers.
Financial and /or custodial penalties for the parents of young offenders would more than likely add to the burden.
While I understand the argument for some action against a parent of a hard core young offender, there wouldn’t be many in a position to cope with a penalty.