To me there are two issues here: first the thing about blaming the parents just seems like another method of shifting blame to people other than the individual. The kids killed a man, let the kids stand and face the charges.

However, I also have a brother-in-law who does this. He and his friends find homeless people and beat the tar out of them just for the hell of it. He started doing it as a teen, his parents knew, and they did nothing. At some point he graduated from beating homeless people to girlfriends, random people in bars, and basically anyone who looked at him sideways. He also raped at least one girl (that we know of). His parents knew of these incidents and still did nothing. It has been an eye-opening experience to see how individuals capable of such violence are enabled by those around them.

So to me, while the parents should not stand trial for this act, I would find it hard to believe that they were ignorant of their childrens' violent proclivities.
QofD | Homepage | 02.24.07 - 3:10 pm | #