When children commit crime, many believe that they themselves should be punished, where there are those who argue that the parents of the children should face legal justice instead. In my opinion, parents should not be personally liable to the wrongdoing of their children, since they themselves have not committed a crime, and cannot therefore be responsible.
Some may argue that since children have not fully developed their mental faculties, that behaviours performed by them must be copied from their parents. Therefore, parents that teach their kids anti social behaviour therefore shoulder some of the blame for their child misbehaving. Studies have shown that children growing up in abusive households, for example, are more likely to grow up having psychological issues of their own. Thus, it might be suggested that since children’s cognitive functions are moulded by their parents, they should be punished instead of the child.
On the other hand, to punish the parents of children implies that the child has no free will. Although parenting does play a part in individual action, it must be pointed out that individuals also have a degree of autonomy (this of course by age; a four year old does not have the same level of cognition as a seventeen year old). Furthermore, to convict parents of crimes their children commit would be to indict them for acts they simply have not done – it could also be the case that the child was raised perfectly well, and still decided to become a criminal. Therefore, since it cannot be proven that a child’s criminal action is purely because of their parents instead of their own volition, their parents should not be punished.
Overall, I argue that since even children past a certain age have a degree of autonomy, we should not put a legal punishment on parents of criminal children.