Should parents be punished for their children’s crimes?

There are different points of view as to whether parents should be held responsible for their children’s offence. First of all, parents should be punished for the wrongdoing of their children as research has shown that family is the key influence for an adolescence to commit a crime during nurturing and parenting process (Farrington, 1996). For instance, children having an experience of being neglected by their parents, conflicts between parents or lack of having good relationship among one another affect a child’s behaviour problems. Hence, parents are to blame for their child’s misbehaviour since they are their child’s first teacher as well as having an obligation towards their child. In addition, the reason for parents to be punished for the same reason they brought their children into the society. The cause of an increasing juvenile offense is due to parents having thoughts that it is beyond their responsibilities if their child takes part in an activity. To demonstrate, if parents keep an eye on their children all the time with strict disciplines, children will not be that exposed to other influences such as television and other influences. As a result, children who is controlled and handled will not be easily influenced. On the other hand, parents should not be punished for the crime of their children since parents are not the only person held responsible for the child’s behaviour. By way of illustration, teachers and the government should also be responsible for the reason that children spend nearly half a day at school with teachers and with the amount of crime by youths increasing, governments should take legal actions before the rate of crime in society is out of hand. If parents are to be punished, much crime won’t reduce much as children whom are extreme in criminal behaviour will not become