Reminder of Parental Responsibilities

How very civilized. A story out of South Korea that judiciously places responsibility where it belongs. Indicating in no uncertain terms that parents are responsible for the outcomes of their parenting skills. That it is incumbent upon parents to instill in their children a sense of civic duty, respect for other people, and a meaningful realization of exercising free choice in distinguishing between right and wrong.

Failure to accomplish those very basic responsibilities in transferring social knowledge and skills in an ethical and moral grounding to their young should indeed hold the parents responsible for the outcomes of their lack of zeal in imparting life's critical measures of social balance. And it's time long overdue that courts take the initiative to designate that responsibility or lack of it as reason to hold parents guilty of social malfeasance as much as the perpetrator of the crime.

When an 18-year-old youth has been inspired to a brutal and violent act of rape against a seven year old girl from his neighbourhood because he decided to duplicate in real life an atrocious event that he viewed in a pornographic movie, one can only question the lack of attention he has received through parental instruction to his understanding of acceptable behaviour and the support of his moral underpinnings.

The court in South Korea has seen fit to order the parents of the teen who is said to suffer from ADHD, to pay a fine of $75,000 for their neglect in this critical area of his upbringing. The court in Seoul declared that this was a just decision, since it felt the parents should have been aware of their son's preoccupations and activities and taken steps to ensure nothing of a violently aggressive, socially-repulsive nature would occur.

"The parents could have prevented the crime with appropriate education but failed to show enough attention to their child", was the opinion of the court, in explaining their ruling. "They neglected their duty to raise their child so that he can properly adjust to society."

This judicial rebuke, and the fact that their neglected son has been sentenced to ten years in prison for rape, will most surely haunt the well-being of these parents. It should also serve as a reminder to all parents that their obligations to their offspring and to society at large are serious matters, not to be given short shrift.

And about time. This decision is needful of far-flung reach in other countries.