Parents to pay for kids' vandalism

The government has had enough of young troublemakers and is ready to hold parents responsible for their children's misbehaviour.
A new proposal to make parents financially responsible for their children's vandalism has majority support in parliament.
Lene Espersen, the justice minister, and Karen Jespersen, the social welfare minister, have put together a proposal that will not only toughen the punishment for young offenders but will require that parents pay for any physical damage caused by their children.
The proposal from the Liberal-Conservative government will likely pass in parliament, having the support of the coalition's common ally, the Danish People's Party.
'It's a really good idea,' said Peter Skaarup, the party's legal affairs spokesman. 'It's a healthy thing that parents will feel the pinch in their pocketbooks when their kids don't behave properly and destroy public or private property.'
In addition to billing parents for damage and tougher punishment for offenders, the six-point proposal also recommends: creating parent help programmes; fines for slack parenting, such as when kids are truant; a bully-hooligan register; and more surveillance.
Espersen said the proposal is aimed at two problem groups in particular.
'It's the modern families who think it's best when children are raised without setting boundaries or limits,' said the justice minister. 'They end up doing whatever they want, and everything becomes about "me, me, me" instead of about the community. They're the types who end up throwing bricks off bridges onto vehicles.'
The other group are young people of non-Danish ethnic background.
'Many families of foreign background have a culture in which the boys should be in charge of their own lives already at the age of 8 or 9,' said Espersen.
Jespersen believes that more use of school detention should also supplement any changes in the law.
'It provides a certain order and discipline that is especially beneficial to the weaker students.'
The opposition Social Democrats, the nation's second-largest party, are also tentatively supporting the proposal.
'Maybe it will get parents to clamp down a bit on the kids if they believe they're going out to cause trouble,' said Karen Hækkerup, the party's legal affairs spokeswoman. 'But I still have a lot of questions about the proposal that first need to be answered.'

Source: The Copenhagen Post