I do think it’s reasonable to pass on penalties to parents up until they are 13, even if they just force counseling on the first offense.
Kids that are out doing things like that don’t come from loving stable homes. Most of the time DHS are involved already. Criminal activities with kids that young are really a symptom of kids being raised in shitty situations - and eventually those broken homes lead to broken children that often grow up to be shitty adults.
The big problem is that we don’t put money into services like child protection that can do something to mitigate the problems before they spiral out of control. It works out cheaper in the long term than funding the criminal system later, but for some reason our society hates spending money on things seen as “welfare” but is happy to fork out for punishment.
Punishment get votes, welfare doesn’t. It’s a simple as that.
When’s the last time a politician ran on the platform ‘More money for services’ instead of ‘Tough of crime’.
People vote with their hearts not their brains.
