Should Parents or Children Pay?
| Author | Martin Wright |
| Published date | 01 December 1983 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058303000408 |
| Date | 01 December 1983 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
143
Should
Parents
or
Children
Pay?
Martin
Wright
Former
Director,
Howard
League
In
the
wake
of
the
Toxteth
disturbances,
the
then
Home
Secretary
stated
that
parents
should
be
made
responsible
for
their
childrens’
actions.
The
CJ
Act
seeks
to
achieve
this
by
making
parents
more
responsible
for
juveniles’
financial
penalties.
But
is
this
simplistic
and
potentially
counter-productive?
No
doubt
all
readers
of Probation
Journal
are
fully
conversant
with
all
Home
Office
Circulars;
but
I
should
like
to
draw
attention
to
one
whose
significance
may
not
have
been
fully
appreciated.
It
will
give
encouragement
to
those
who
believe
that
offenders
should
be
enabled
to
make
amends
by
paying
compensation
to
their
victims.
The
CriminalLawAct
1977brought
in
the
idea
of
allowing
the
court
to
transfer
fines
and
com-
pensation
orders
from juveniles
to
their
parents
or
guardians,
and
Sections
26
and
27
of
the
CriminalJustice
Act
1982
require
it to
do
so
unless
this
would
be
’unreasonable.’
This
is
strangely
at
odds
with
the idea
of
individual
accountability,
but
it
is
in
accordance
with
the
folk
wisdom,
adopted
liy
various
politicians
and
leader
writers,
that
there
would
be
less
delinquency
if
parents
brought
up
their
children
better,
that
some
parents
neglect
their
duties
out
of
indifference
or
laziness,
and
that
the
prospect
of
being
fined
for their
children’s
misdeeds
will
make
them
take
their
responsibilities
more
seriously.
I
hope
this
isn’t
a
caricature:
I
believe
that
many
politicians
really
think
like
this.
The
Howard
League’
pointed
out
the
fallacies
of
this
(and
of
partly
suspended
sentences):
’It
often
happens
that
parents
(frequently
a
single
parent)
are
trying
their
hardest
but
cannot
hit
the
right
note
m
dealing
with
their
children.
Fining
them
will
increase
their
anxiety
without
helping
them
to
cope.’
It
quoted
the
Scottish
Kilbrandon
Report2
which
said
that
the
educational
value,
m
relation
to
the
parents,
must
be
highly
doubtful,
and
the
argument
that
the
process
would
be
in-
directly
of
educational
value
to
the
child,
untenable,
and
went
on:
‘It
is
common
for young
delinquents
to
be
at
odds
with
their
parents
m
some
way.
If
relationships
are
already
strained,
to
order
a
parent
to
pay
a
fine
could
make
matters
worse,
leading,
for
example,
to
excessive
physical
punishment,
or
even
to
rejection
from
home,
thus
placing
the
youngster
at
more
risk
than
ever.’
It
might
have
added
that
some
parents
neglect
their
children
because
they
are
working
long
or
unsocial
hours
to
support
themselves;
and
that
sooner
or
later
a
court
will
imprison
a
parent
for
not
paying
the
fine
incurred
by
the
child,
with
ruinous
consequences
for
the
whole
family.
This
argument
agamst
fining
the
parents
has
been
strongly
supported
by
Dr
Harriet
Wilson3.
Although
she
finds,
as
might
be
expected,
that
there
is
a
significant
association
between
parental
supervision
and
children’s
social
behaviour,
she
points
out
that
the
reasons
for
the
inadequate
supervision
are
often
the
adverse
conditions
in
which
the
families
live:
poverty,
poor
archi-
tectural
design
which
prevents
supervision
of
children
while
at
play,
and
the
presence
of
a
dis-
proportionate
number
of
families
who
do
not
supervise
their
children.
Other
parents
suffer
from
physical
or
mental
handicap.
She
concludes
that,
depending
on
the
circumstances,
to
transfer
the
fine
would
be
unjust,
unwise,
received
with
anger
by
the
parents,
and
with
mirth
by
some
youngsters;
and
that
it
would
be
more
effective,
as
well
as
fairer,
to
follow
a
policy
of
helping
people
to
be
better
parents.
It
appears
that
the
force
of
these
arguments
has
not
been
lost
on
the
Home
Office.
H
D
Circular
3/1983,
para.
3,
draws
attention
to
some
of
the
points
made
during
the
passage
of
the
Criminal
Justice
Bill.
’It
was
suggested,
for
example,
that
regard
should
be
had
to
factors
such
as
whether
the
parents
had
neglected
to
exercise
due
care
and
control
of the
child
or
young
person ... :
whether
it
was
desirable
that
the
child
or
young
person
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