Graves: Fine Arrestees’ Parents

Tremendous idea. It's about time parents be held accountable.

Connecticut already has a parental liability law on the books. It explicitly considers torts (civil matters) and I'm not sure if CT law would allow a municipality to impose their own fines as opposed to pursuing a civil suit.

CHAPTER 925*
STATUTORY RIGHTS OF ACTION AND DEFENSES
Sec. 52-572. Parental liability for torts of minors.
(a) The parent or parents or guardian, other than a temporary guardian appointed pursuant to section 45a-622, of any unemancipated minor or minors, which minor or minors wilfully or maliciously cause damage to any property or injury to any person, or, having taken a motor vehicle without the permission of the owner thereof, cause damage to the motor vehicle, shall be jointly and severally liable with the minor or minors for the damage or injury to an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars, if the minor or minors would have been liable for the damage or injury if they had been adults.

I agree. Maybe if parents are held accountable they will have more control over what their children are doing. It starts at HOME!!

If DeStefano had proposed this he would have been immediately excoriated by the "Community".

@ Robn
I believe the sanction Graves is talking about deals with juvenile/criminal misconduct, not civil torts (for which you can collect damages from the parents for things like destruction of property, wrecking cars, etc.). Of course authorization would have to come from the State legislature, but its worth a try to bring back the importance of making your own children accountable.

I agree with Graves on accountability. the warning and referral would be a wake up call.

He is probably very well aware of a phenomenon police experience repeatedly:

Poorly skilled parents with their own criminal past lambasting police when police visit them to talk to them about their 14-year-old running the street all night.

it is not uncommon for parents to blame the police for it, demand they leave their kids alone etc.

the warning and a mandatory referral to services might shut down this ranting by incompetent parents.

although fining would take an action of the legislature, the referral could be ordered by DCF. DCF can be called in on these cases. Might just be a matter of consulting with DCF to set policy to facilitate the measure.

Maybe starting at the beginning of life would be better, for example holding parents accountable for their kids getting their homework done. As it is now more than 1/2 of the kids in New Haven public schools don't even receive homework assignments. This is most likely a result of poor parenting and now it is affecting the whole city.

PS: enforcement then can come in through the back door, without the legislature doing anything, in the form of consequences already on the books for parents who do not follow DCF orders.

Crime prevention starts at home,
Dawson understands clearly this subject since he has being dealing with this situation for a long time in real life! I think the question is not if we can impose the law or not but, ENFORCE THE LAW.
As a New Haven community member as I am. I can share that working with the community with out the right and trained support is almost useless all effort you want to make "to make thing happen" Advocate for Family Values is the key " The GOLD key" for success at home, school and community. I'm strongly will support this avenue to rest the violence in our City.

Graves suggestion and the comments here betray a very cynical and sad view of New Haven parents. Do people here really believe that parents do not see and understand what it means to have a child who is failing school, in a gang, or dealing drugs? Do people really believe that parents in those circumstances aren't desperately afraid of the future for their children? That those parents wouldn't do anything they could to help their children? The idea that a $50 or $100 fine would suddenly mean that a mother has the means, skills, and knowledge to help her child succeed is cynical, naive, and totally ignorant. Parents don't choose to be bad parents, and they cannot suddenly choose to be good parents overnight without our understanding and support.
We need to focus on helping families succeed, not on how we can kick them while they're down. We need to make sure parents have positive places they can turn to for assistance and support. How about rather than punishing families, we make sure they are aware of programs and support available at school, at adult ed, through non-profits, and programs like Youth@Work, the new summer food program, Street Outreach Workers and New Haven Promise. And let's work together to come up with positive ideas for how we can better support parents and engage them in our public school system.

Blaming parents for children who go astray is an irresponsible and wasteful platform.Are some parents to blame for their childrens' actions? A resounding "YES". Is that the overall solution to what ails New Haven? "NO".Should we then blame parents of city administrators for actions they took which led to the mass incarceration of parents for profit and the criminalization and miseducation of our children ? Who then should be held acountable for out of control wasteful government spending,police corruption/abuse of power and brutality, high unemployment within the community while 60-70% of city workers live outside the city, high # of home forcelosures, dysnfunctional child welfare system,poor health insurance,lack of pro social resources for youth,free flow of guns into the community with little prosecution for those providing those guns,nepotism in city hall,package stores and drug dealers on every corner standing outside dilapidated buildings. New Haven is a city divided along socio economic class in which the air certain segments breathe is hopelessness and despair. Until we address these fundamental issues we are spitting in the wind thinking that all has to happen to end violence in the city is make parents accountable for their children's actions and hire more police. Youth have little to do with all that has New Haven in a state of distress. They, like their parents are left to "play the cards" they were dealt. Unless we are within that household we can't say how much parenting is going on. Some of the best parents have children who go astray. Make sure when making an assessment of parenting it is not from the outside looking in or looking solely at a child's behavior in the community. There are many children who behave one way in the home and would be ashamed to admit to the behavior they participate in out of their parent's presence. I know none of you stellar individuals know anything about that.

This program was produced at NHTV, NOT Citizens Television. They are two different stations, kind of like the independent is not the register.

... Does anyone have any stats on crime among teens and how many of them live on welfare? As far as the outreach programs, great! We obviously need more, but until you have neighbors that you can see with your own eyes that don't give a tiny little crap what their kids are doing right in front of their house you should not bother commenting. I see it every day all around me.

How can teachers teach when the kids parents dont help their kids with homework because their favorite TV show is on or they are at their under the table job so they can afford their big SUV and the gas that goes with it?

One thing for sure is that we need some new blood running this city. The true blue DeStefano voters need to take a step back and look at the murder/shooting rate in NH. Its a mess and wont get better for a long long time.

Not sure if this show was about the candidates or ms. shani. note to producers, the moderator should not be the star, and mr. bass' constant taking pictures and laying his head on his folded arms are amatureish at best.
And kill the blue screen, it looks like a bad outtake from "the 300". this is about substance of conversation, not special effects.

The responsibility for OUR kids is ours. The values and rules you start at home reflect in the grow of the little human being.

After that will be many, many reason to blame others for the bad behavior of some kids and after that will be even worst to generalized that those parents that are struggling with a "troublemaker kid" are really making the impossible to help their children to make the right choices. What is the idea of helping those parents?

One sample, what are those kids doing for 2 to 5 hours running,creaming in the middle of the streets with no supervision, everyday? what are they learning? WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?

My point is the priority should be help the kids to be kids with some structure of responsibility and care of them selves.

What is really happening in their homes is what's we don't know. Sadly in some cases it may be abuse to those "bad kids" the reason why they are not in their homes OR some of those parents are too young to deal with these responsibilities. I'm still saying parents are responsible. Police and city will have very little power over these difficult issues.

Mr, graves thoughts are on the right track,but if he wishes to climb that slippery slop, he must also realize dcf has all but neutralised parental power so why not find dcf for its failed interference

I have been through the nightmare of a "crazy" child. I worked during the day while they were at school. I would go home, make dinner, clean house, and play games with them, do the movie night,, the weekend parks, the whole nine yards. But one of my sons decided it was time to play crazy. Skipping school, leaving home in the middle of the night, stay gone for a couple days., stealing cars, everything you could think of. One day he went to the toy store in Hamden plaza with his little friend, they climbed into a big toy chest, and hid there until the store was closed. Then they got out,, opened all kind of toys, and was riding bikes all around the store. After awhile I spent more time in court then I did at my job. They were telling me that my child didn't have enough., asking me what my home life was like. Finally they showed up at my house unexpectedly, and I then receive a report that my child had too much. His own room and lots of perks. WTF? Your damned if you do, and your damned if you don't. One year he stole 13 cars., and I had to pay for every one of them. While I rode the frigging bus to work. At 14 he was 6'2" tall, I'm 5'1" I got the broom and started beating his head in,, I had had enough. He told me he was gonna call DCF,, I told him go ahead,, and when you finish that call, dial Perkins Funeral Home to come pick up your body. 50 years ago when I was coming up, you didn't have all these problems. Parents could take you out side with a switch, and you knew better. Nowadays,, you can't even yell at your kids. You want to take away all the after school programs and places where kids can go, so now they're running the streets and you want to charge their parents for them getting into trouble. Good luck with that. I still say the kids of today are being raised by kids. They're parents are too young to know how to raise kids.
And before someone asks,, where was his Daddy, he was dead, died when he was 2. And also, I'm not saying to "torture" the kids, but a good switch to the butt never hurt nobody.

The beatings will continue until moral improves?

Don't know about the legality/practicality of such a fine - but great move by Graves. Most of the parents who would get the fine probably don't vote, or read the paper, so he won't lose their vote. Even if this is just a pipe dream, he will only gain some votes out of the more angry, frightened pockets of this beleaguered city.

After speaking with someone who saw the debate in its entirety I was informed that Graves spoke to a multi faceted approach to gun violence. I was informed that he spoke of fines for parents ONLY after they were given every opportunity to seek supportive services and chose instead to do nothing and allow their children to run rampant in the neighborhood terrorizing. I now recognize his solution was rooted in doing what a real community does....reach out to help a neighbor in need instead. i totally agree with his approach. He has the wisdom to know that not every family has the same need therefore there is no one way to respond.