Can parents of children who break the law be held accountable for the acts of their offspring? Flanders thinks they should, and also be sanctioned for it.
Crimes committed by young offenders have risen in recent years, including stabbing incidents, riots, robberies, gang violence and serious beatings.
The rise spurred the region's Minister of Justice Zuhal Demir (N-VA) and Minister of Welfare Hilde Crevits (CD&V) to present the Flemish Youth Delinquency Action Plan, through which they want to curb juvenile delinquency by preventing it in the first place, but if necessary, tackle it and be able to punish it better.
"Serious youth crime rates have been on the rise in Flanders in recent years. We cannot let this continue. With this action plan, we give the courts extra instruments to react, but we also hold parents partly responsible," Demir said.
The plan expects more action from parents: it is envisaged that parents of young offenders will have to appear with them before the juvenile court. Meanwhile, it also places more blame on them, with the ministers looking into whether juvenile judges can impose community service penalties on parents who "didn't do enough" to prevent their children from committing offences.
"Adults who do not fulfil their parental duty can be sanctioned as co-responsible for their children's criminal behaviour," Demir said.
Plans causing stir
Crevits stressed in parliament on Wednesday that this specific aspect has not yet been officially decided on, but is merely being examined.
The CD&V minister underlined that the 1965 Youth Protection Act already provides for possible (limited) imprisonment of parents in certain cases. "We now want to have research done to see if we should look at supplementing this with community service sentences."
Flemish Minister of Environment, Energy, Tourism and Justice Zuhal Demir. Credit: Belga / Hatim Kaghat
Despite the undecidedness of the matter, it already drew heavy criticism from political parties, law experts, judges and organisations involved in children's rights and protection. Many are arguing this debate hides a more fundamental problem: the lack of care for vulnerable young people, a sector in which there are many staff shortages, or the troubles many parents themselves often face.
Children's rights commissioner Caroline Vrijens said she is somewhat "concerned" about the Flemish plans.
"If a young person commits an offence, parents should be maximally involved and addressed in their parental role. But you are not helping anyone by sanctioning parents and certainly not the young person. Commitment to support, guidance and recovery remains the key," she said.
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Flemish Green MP Jeremie Vaneeckhout said the government should be focussing on stopping the cuts in operating funds for youth and family assistance rather than punishing parents. "Any expert will tell you that," he said.
Youth law experts are critical of the legal feasibility, saying there is no added value in community service and that under current laws, parents are already liable for damage caused by their children. They also argued that it seems to clash legally with the principle that a person cannot be punished for someone else's crimes.
