Opinions are divided on whether young criminals should be punished or their parents should be held responsible instead. In my opinion, both sides have merit in different circumstances, so the punishment must depends on the specific case.
On the one hand, punishing the parents make sense when they are the direct reason leading to the child’s actions. This is to say, some adults behave in a way that is against the laws in front of their children, leaving a bad influence on their developing brains. As a result, these children grow up acting similarly to their parents, without comprehending the illegal extent of their actions. For example, there have been cases where underaged drivers were speeding on the public road and even caused deadly accidents in Vietnam where the parents were held responsible as they are the ones who taught and allowed these young individuals to ride in the first place.
On the other hand, the blame cannot be on the parents in cases where the child is influenced via other sources. It would not only be ill-advised to be too controlling on your children, but it is also impossible for some parents to do in certain cases. Specifically, online influence is one of the major root causes of countless crimes committed by children. As they are young and impressionable, they lack the ability to differentiate right from wrong; as a result, they are persuaded to partake in illegal activities, thinking they are nothing more than being cool and trendy. In such cases, punishing the parents would not make the children feel remorseful enough to not commit crimes again in the future, because the parents are not the influence.
In conclusion, I believe that there is no clear-cut answer for the party that should be punished between children criminals and their parents, and it must be decided depending on the cases themselves and what is the main influence for the crime to happen.