“Punishing Parents: Who Is Responsible For Delinqu

832 Words4 Pages
“I think it is a terrible idea to make parents criminally liable for their kids’ behavior.” Stanton E. Samenow “Punishing Parents: Who is Responsible for Delinquent Kids?” I could not agree more with the above statement from Samenow, an acclaimed criminal psychologist and author, from the 20/20 special “Punishing Parents: Who is Responsible for Delinquent Kids?” It seems that whenever a problem arises that involves a delinquent youth, the first question asked is “Where were the parents?”, and in many instances the parents were present but had no idea what their children were capable of. For example, as mentioned in the film, Eric Harris, one of the infamous Columbine shooters, had a good relationship with his parents and his juvenile officer. Harris got into trouble with the law early for breaking into a locked van and stealing tools. In January 1998, Harris was charged with mischief, breaking and entering, trespassing and theft. As earlier stated, he left a good impression on his juvenile officer, who offered to expunge his criminal records if he agreed to attend a diversionary program to include community service, receiving psychiatric treatment, and obeying the law. In addition, Harris was required to attend anger management classes where, again, he made a favorable impression. He was so well behaved that his probation officer discharged him from the program a few months earlier than the due date. Of Harris, it was remarked that he was “a very bright individual who is likely to succeed in life.” Harris’s parents did what they could for their troubled son sending him to counseling outside of his anger management classes. Never in a million years would they have suspected that their son would be a part of the deadliest school shooting in the county. Furthermore, there are certain levels of privacy every parent wishes to give their children. Even good

More about “Punishing Parents: Who Is Responsible For Delinqu

Open Document