Voices of Emory

Should parents be fined for their children's crimes?

Ari Silverstein
Second-Year Student
School of Medicine
"Definitely. I think as a parent you're responsible for your child's upbringing, and his actions directly reflect on you. A lot of parents don't discipline their children and because of that the kids do whatever they want."

Seth Mehr
First-Year Student
School of Medicine
"I think parents should share responsibility for their child's actions if they are minors. But they should not be jailed for their offenses. They should have to pay fines though."

Grace Thangaraj
Junior
Psychology
"No. They affect their children's behavior to a certain level, but after a certain age I don't think parents have that much influence over their children's lives. To a certain extent the parents play a role, but their peers and friends play a larger one."

Brian T. Bedford
Community Service Officer
Parking and Community Services
"No. I believe parents should be responsible for their children's proper upbringing, but at the same time you can't fine a parent for what a child does. It's natural for children to revolt at times in their lives. You can't always blame the parents."

Marlene Cole
Graduate Student
School of Public Health
"No. Certainly parents play a role in shaping who their children are, but I don't think inflicting punishment on parents will change parental involvement with children. That's what we should be talking about--improving parental involvement, but not in a punitive way."


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