Parents are the Foundation

The only people who should be charged with a crime are those responsible for it. Seems obvious. However, the line becomes fuzzier the longer one thinks about it. Every event in someone's life impacts their life experience, their worldview. This is even more important in their childhood. While there is not any definitive way to prove in a legal situation that parents are responsible for the actions of their children, someone's upbringing certainly carries great weight in the worldview they hold.

The US National Library of Medicine published a piece by consultant clinical psychologist, Masud Hoghughi, titled, "The importance of parenting in child health," Hoghughi suggests that what young children really need in their childhood is a strong presence of care and guidance. Having that parent-type figure in someone's life gives a sense of safety, boundaries, and caring.

Hoghughi notes that the structural, familial difficulties that children face today is getting worse and it is causing children of today to often lack the solid foundation they need. According to The Telegraph, the former British Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith claimed that "'Seven out of 10 offenders come from broken homes.'" That statistic is startlingly high, showing that there is a big connection between the role of the parent and the future of the child. 

In the book Crime and Public Policy, by distinguished professors James Q. Wilson and Joan Petersilia, they cite a study that said, 63% of boys whose fathers had committed a crime were convicted too. This shows the intergenerational criminal tendencies of families and how much the parents matter.

Now, this is not to suggest that even kids who come from perfectly good families do not commit crimes, in fact, it is not uncommon to see teenager utterly reject what their parents have taught them and go the opposite of their seemingly ideal upbringing. Neither is this to say that children who do come from criminally fueled or broken childhoods cannot lead productive lives, innocent of any crime.

Despite this, the upbringing of children generally has a massive impact on their worldview. While parents do not probably carry any legal responsibility, their guidance, or lack thereof, matters a lot in the lives of their kids.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 25, 2018 at 6:59 PM

    This is an amazing post, obviously very informative. I do agree with the statement in paragraph one saying those who should be charged are the ones who committed the crime. On the topic of great information, the hyperlinks are missing, I assume it is a issue with the website. But to me that is the only issue with this post. Everything here is great, also did not know the fact in paragraph 4 about 63% of boys whose fathers had committed a crime were also convicted. It is very interesting and would appeal to many. Great job again Matt!

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