Are the parents of the rioters responsible for their childrens' actions?

All the time parents are no longer allowed to discipline their children they cannot be held responsible for their actions.

I think that the parents of any of the rioters under 16 should be held jointly responsible with their children. Anyone who allowed their child to go out knowing this was happening is giving them the go ahead. Even children who are normally well behaved could be caught up in the heat of the riot and behave irresponsibally, so the best thing is to keep them in.

PARENTS CAN DISCIPLINE THEIR CHILDREN JUST NOT BEAT THEM

Parents can't be held responsible for everything their child does, especially when the government (Margaret Thatcher) brought in the "children's rights" law. Even the police are scared to slap a youngster for being cheeky incase they are sued, same goes for the parents. The childrens right law should never have been invented, children have NO rights, it's the parents that should protect the child not the state,UNLESS there is signs of sexual or physical abuse against the child. The riots were wrong, but the real culprit here is the politicains. They NEVER listen, the yougsters need to see there is a future for them instead of roaming the streets. They NEED work, and the ONLY way that is going to happen is when our corrupt politicians finally listen to us and pull Britain OUT of the EU, then we can get rid of all the illegal immigrants, that way our yougsters will get the job that were rightly theirs all along. It's time our politicians started to work for us instead of foreigners.

It's about time that people woke up and smelt the coffee children commit crime and they know what they are doing. What ever the individuals age they should be punished and I mean PUNISHED.

Ibelieve the majority of the parents are responsible for their chidren actions, as they do not know where they are most of the time, and to my mind not bothered either. This was also endorsed by the response of the parents of the young offenders who appeared in court and swore at the media after, plus the parents of the 12yr old who did not even bother to turn up at court. It is time we got back to okld fashioned policing. Also it time the ethnic people stopped using the excuse its because of my colour, and theres nothing to do. Go out and look for a job or pastime that does not include bringing this country down. We are too lenient in this country, if the peiople are not satisfied they should look what other countries are doing to their own people, and if still not happy leave and hgo to another country to live.

YES I BELEIVE THAT PARENTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF THEIR CHILDREN AND THEY SHOULD ALWAYS KNOW WHERE THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING.IF PARENTS TOOK MORE INTEREST OF THEIR CHILDREN THEN MAYBE THEY WOULDN'T GET INTO TROUBLE,IT IS THE PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACTIONS OF THEIR CHILDREN AFTER ALL THEY WHERE THE ONES WHO BROUGHT THEM INTO THIS WORLD AND THEY SHOULD TEACH THEM RIGHT FROM WRONG

No. The parents are not responsible. A child at 11 years old is criminally responsible. They know right from wrong, they have broken the law, they should be charged as the adults are. The government keep on about human rights etc, and children now preach it to adults by saying "you can't touch me" and "you cant force me" so let the children and adults have their human rights in the form of a fair trial and prosecution!

Parents of children under 16 should be held accountable for their childrens actions & be made to do community service to help repair the damage they have done.

ALL PARENTS SHOULD KNOW WHERE ALL THE KIDS ARE POLICE DO A TOUGH JOB THEY DONT DESERVE TO BE SPIT ON AR BOTTLES THROWN AT THEM OR STONES NOT EVERBODY WOULD DO THE JOB I THINK IT IS DISCUSDING AND PARENTS SHOULD BE MADE TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGE THEIR KIDS HAVE DONE AS FOR OLD MEN DOING THE RIOTS AND PROFFISONAL PEOPLE IS STUPID

Bring back the Birch

I totally agree with the comment about bringing back the birch. When are we going to realise that the do-gooders have ruined our country. Children can't be punished in case we infringe on their human rights. What idiot came up with this? Bring back the cane in school as well.

I think michaelhastie says it all, we as parents should be held responsible for our children's actions. When I was growing up my sister and I were never allowed out after 8pm, our mother would have given us a beating if we had ever done anything like this. Maggie Thatcher should never have allowed this county to join the EU, we have a lot to answer for for allowing other countries to dominate what we can and cannot do to chastise our children. Most kids do not have respect for anyone, parents, police, teachers and the older generation. Bring back the police being able to give offenders a clip round the ear and have more police on the streets as they used to be then perhaps kids would behave themselves. My grandchildren do not go out vandalising anything because they know in the long run all parents have to faqce the responsibility of wrongdoing and have to pay damages which children don't think about or even care whether the fines, if any, get paid. Make them clean the streets and other places, make jail sentences more like America, then thugs would possibly think twice before committing crimes.

Bring back national service, and give up pampering them, lifes not one big party, and about time they found that out. We never had what kids have got today we never went rioting, looting, too many parents rights have been taking away from us, and the kids know it, same has happened at schools

Dont believe that parents can be held responsible for there childs actions, Children know what they do is wrong and should be punished for it. All parents am sure like to think we know what are children are up 2 and where they are but infact most of the time we dont. Children get in to wrong groups etc and no matter how much parents try to put things right children will do as they like once outside the home. All we can do is hope n pray that our children dont turn out that way and maybe teaching right from wrong will work x

Yes the parents should be responsible for their children,when i was a child a policeman used to be able to give a clip round your ear, these days parents cant even do that!!

I agree 100% Bluebell21 .

Its not straight forward. Yes parents have to teach between right and wrong, but one parent sent their kids to bed and checked on them before going to bed themselves and kids looked asleep. Son then creeped out. What were the parents meant to do. Their son knew what he was doing was wrong. But all his mates went so he had to go.

legally you're a child until you are 18. Holding a parent responsible for a 17 year old is unreasonable. You can not physically restrain a child of that age now can you always know where a child is. My 17 year old went, they said, with friends to an event - they actually were there, not rioting, but unless you follow them 24/7 you can't always know where they are. And if you do live their lives with them they never grow up and become responsible citizens.

It's not as simple as 'are the parents responsible for the kids' - the vast number of these idiots where over the age of 18, making them adults and adults should NEVER behave like this. YES, the parents should have brought-up their children to behave better, but the vast number of the idiots ARE adults and passed being the responsibiliy of their parents. For those rioters who are still under the age of 18 then YES their parents ARE responsible for their childrens actions. Unfortunatly we live in a world where the inmates have takenover the asylum! Slap them up against a wall and shoot the lot of them! That will soon make the others think.