Should parents pay if their children end up in trouble with the law?

Many crimes and social problems are caused by children. Despite the damage these teenage criminals cause, parents are not held responsible in most countries. This essay will discuss whether parents should be forced to pay for their children’s crimes.

There are many reasons why parents should not be responsible for crimes committed by teenage children. First of all, teenagers today are independent. They often move out of the parent’s house at 18 years of age or younger. They are expected to learn to take care of themselves and make their own decisions, and not stay like small children attached to their parents. Secondly, parents are working. They cannot watch their adolescent children all the time. A third point is that even children from good families can sometimes commit crimes. Parents should not be responsible if they have worked hard to raise their children properly.

However, because of the many problems young troublemakers cause, I feel we should make parents responsible. Firstly, most juvenile crimes are committed by adolescents whose parents do not care or make any effort to control their children. If parents had to pay fines, they might make more effort. Another point is that even though the children may seem mature, they are not really able to make good decisions. Parents should be responsible for raising and teaching their children until they are fully grown. Furthermore, if children know that their parents will have to pay, they will think carefully before doing getting into trouble

In summary, there are good reasons both for and against making parents pay for acts committed by their children. However, I feel strongly that if we want to reduce the number of such crimes, we need to make parents take more responsibility.

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