Even with crime rates decreasing in number, the amount of juvenile delinquencies remains high in the United States compared to other countries. With approximately 423,077 cases involving children each year, the U.S justice system is fast to try and point fingers at an often easy target: parents.
More often than not, parents are unfairly accused of the heinous crimes that their children commit. In early February, Jennifer Crumbley was charged with the manslaughter of four children on behalf of her son’s involvement in a Michigan school shooting.
While student values and habits often stem from parental ideologies, parents should not be held accountable for actions of their children.
Subish Achamparampil, the parent of a high schooler at Pleasant Valley, believes that blaming the parents makes it more likely for these children to commit crimes in the future. “When society blames parents solely for such acts, it can give kids a false sense of security, thinking it’s normal to commit crimes if they come from an influential family,” he said. “We often forget about peer pressure, social and economic background and even mental health, which can all contribute to these behaviors.”
Children’s brains only finish developing by their mid to late 20s and a lot of the decisions they make during childhood have unforeseen consequences. For the most part, the choices these kids make are completely independent from their parents and are many times not discussed with parents.
Junior Manusri Mutyala disagrees with the idea of parents unnecessarily being blamed. “Some kids are extremely stubborn and irresponsible, so no matter how much a parent may discipline their kid, that kid just won’t listen,” she states. “The kid will not learn if the parent is punished for doing something they didn’t do.”
In the case of Crumbley, she was not the one who pulled in the trigger. She was not in any way involved with her son’s actions and if it weren’t for providing her underage son with a gun, she should not have been facing any consequences.
No parent ever wants to see their child get into trouble. The intent of most parents is to raise their children to the best of their ability and nobody expects their otherwise normal child to try and cause harm to those around them.
The only person that truly understands what a child is thinking is themselves and they should be prepared to face the repercussions of the conflicts they cause. These seemingly unexpected actions should not be blamed on the innocent parents of children unless parents played a role in assisting their child.
