Band 6+: Some people believe that children that commit crimes should be punished. Others think the parents should be punished instead. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

In recent years, there has been a debate whether children or parents should be punished because of the children’s crimes. Some, which I agree with, said that those young individuals should be responsible for their crimes as they are the ones who caused it and other factors probably led to the morally wrong decisions but not their parents; while others argued that parents are those who directly bring up and influence their children, therefore, if the young individuals are criminals, they should be held responsible for it.

Regarding the first view, I agree that children should be responsible for their crimes as they are the ones who committed it. Indeed, by law, if one is accused of a crime, they must be the one who oblige their punishments. This is also a realistic way to discipline the children as in prison, they will receive lessons to educate them, and overtime, they can also have mitigations for their sentence. Furthermore, nowadays, children can be badly influenced by other factors, chiefly the Internet, but not by their parents. The nature of the Internet makes it easy to access websites which are heavy in explicit contents, reshaping the child’s morality and affecting their actions.

Regarding the second view, they argue that parents should be held responsible for their child’s criminalities because they are the ones who bring up the children, therefore likely to influence them badly. As mentioned, parents are the ones who give birth to their children as well as bringing them up. While nurturing, however, indecent thoughts can be delivered into their children’s mind, which is known to be easily influenced, through the parents’ behavior. Therefore, shaping the children’s actions to be immoral.

Overall, some people, including me, agree that children should be punished instead of their parents because they are the ones who committed the crime and the parents should be omitted as they are more likely to be influenced by other sources. Others believe that parents should be held responsible for their children’s crime as they can be the ones who influenced their children badly.