Personal Responsibility

[B4UTRUST]

At what point in a person's life should they become responsible for their own actions? At what point, are they held liable for the consequences of their actions and the repercussions there of.

This question comes from the situation with the kid who broke into my truck. The kid is like 10 or 11. Real young kid. His mother is a crackhead most likely, given her general appearance and the history of the family(father, when he was alive, was a big time drug runner). The kid whe he was arrested was arrested with a crack pipe, pot and other narcotics in his posession.

At what point does he become responsible for his actions in breaking into my truck and stealing my stuff, along with 4 or 5 other people's stuff from their vehicles? At what point do we stop blaming parents entirely for the little fuckwit's actions and blame him as well?

I personally think that the most fucked up part of the situation is that in seven or eight years, regardless of anything else, his record will be wiped and it'll be like nothing ever happened. The kid has commited like half a dozen felonies but nothing will ever really be done about it...

How do you all feel? What's your stance on this?

[SirNitram]

Overly-rational being that I am, I stick with the logical and scientific answer: When the neural connections are solidified and stable, which is somewhere between 16 and early twenties.

[Rukia]

If a child knows right from wrong and can distinguish good and bad actions from one another that's when is can be held responsible. Granted there would be certain exceptions: i.e mental illness or defect and possibly social up bringing. If the kid is never taught right from wrong he can't tell the difference. Most like likely the kid who stole your stuff knew that it was wrong. All you have to do is set him down and as a few simple questions of right and wrong.

[B4UTRUST]

Overly-rational being that I am, I stick with the logical and scientific answer: When the neural connections are solidified and stable, which is somewhere between 16 and early twenties.

So before then a person is not responsible for their own actions and should not be held to the consequences thereof?

If a child knows right from wrong and can distinguish good and bad actions from one another that's when is can be held responsible. Granted there would be certain exceptions: i.e mental illness or defect and possibly social up bringing. If the kid is never taught right from wrong he can't tell the difference. Most like likely the kid who stole your stuff knew that it was wrong. All you have to do is set him down and as a few simple questions of right and wrong.

Now what if the child indeed never was taught right or wrong? Is he then not responsible for his actions because of this lack of knowledge? Ignorance of law is not a valid excuse to break it. But irregardless of that, is he not responsible if say, he went out and shot someone while mugging them?

[SirNitram]

Overly-rational being that I am, I stick with the logical and scientific answer: When the neural connections are solidified and stable, which is somewhere between 16 and early twenties.

So before then a person is not responsible for their own actions and should not be held to the consequences thereof?

That's what it all seems to point to. This doesn't mean I don't think there shouldn't be punishment; you only avoid crazies by applying punishments when lines are crossed.

[Bloody Good]

I say we beat both the kid and the parents with a rubber hose.

No, not really. Not yet, anyways. You can't really claim not to know the difference between right and wrong anymore. Society makes it damn hard to grow up without hearing at least a few hundred times not to steal people's crap. As for the parents, I'd blame them for as long as they support the kid, but that doesn't mean the kid isn't to blame as well. If they support him, they are also responsible for him. It isn't that hard to keep your kids in line. My parents managed just fine, and they had four of us to watch. We learned that if we fucked up, we were gonna get smacked. The worst any of us did was shoplifting, and it wasn't even anything expensive.

Which just goes to show you that, when applied appropriately, beatings build character.

[B4UTRUST]

Shit, I was raised military. If I didn't respect people and do as I was told you can guarentee that my ass was handed to me by my father. Now, granted, once I hit my teenage years that changed a bit and all but the military straightened me out quite a bit too.

But I was also taught along with that respect that there was a responsibility of self. You were responsible for your own actions, your own decisions, and the consequences that came with 'em. No blaming mommy and daddy, no blaming my teachers or my friends. When I fucked up, I was blamed and I was punished.

I think children aught to be beaten more, really. It was damned well good enough for me and my generation and those before me, it's good enough for the little punk shits of this one. That's honestly what they need, they need to get their asses handed to em when they fuck up. Not this lovey dovey time out, sit in the corner bullshit. We need the old fashioned I'm going to blister your ass so you can't sit for a week, hands on approach to parenting.

[Mayabird]

There really should be a sliding scale of responsibility as people get older, more experienced, knowledgeable, and have a more properly functioning brain, not just a on-off point at one set age. Ideally it would be different for different people. Some people (damn few, with extreme brain damage) could be held completely not responsible for their actions (people with extreme dementia, for instance, can get very violent and have no control over their actions) although that would mean they would have to be kept under constant watch or guard to keep them from hurting others. And something would have to be done about sociopaths who just don't give a damn about anybody else. They certainly intellectually know better, but they don't have the moral grounding to care if there aren't any repercussions to them.

Of course, if I actually knew how to implement this exactly for everyone, I wouldn't be here posting this. I'd probably be showing off my Nobel Peace Prize or something.