Paying for the crimes of their children: Public support of parental responsibility

Eve M. Brank, Victoria Weisz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Parental responsibility laws, varying greatly within and among the states, appeared as one answer to the questions surrounding juvenile crime. Although these laws would seem to garner great public support under the new punitive attitude toward juveniles, no recent empirical studies were conducted on this topic. The current research examined public support of parental responsibility for crimes children commit. Contrary to expectations, public support was found to be relatively low. The public did place some responsibility on the parents when a juvenile crime occurred; however, agreement with blaming and punishing the parents was low. Political ideology and educational status served as possible predictors of support. Overall, however, demographic variables proved not predictive in determining who would support these measures.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)465-475
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Criminal Justice
Volume32
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2004
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Applied Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Law

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