To what extent might good parenting skills (or lack thereof) affect the crime rate in a society?

Please be sure to offer some thoughtful reasons for your answer. (By the way, I am also asking another question related to parenting skills, so if you like this question, you may want to check my profile and answer that one as well.)To what extent might good parenting skills (or lack thereof) affect the crime rate in a society?
This is a very insightful question. We can only speculate the answer, because even the so-called experts have no real answers.


It would be interesting to hear from the parents of infamous criminals such as Jeffrey Dahmer(?Spelling), Scott Peterson, Ted Bundy, etc. Are they a product of their environment or genetics?


Or is your question directed more toward the other end of the spectrum to include so-called ';white-collared'; criminals, such as Enron, Senators, telecommunication Executives? Or perhaps pedophiles, or rapist? Very thought provoking when you think about the criminal population of American Society!To what extent might good parenting skills (or lack thereof) affect the crime rate in a society?
If you look at prison demographics, a majority of the men there did not have a permanent father-figure in their life as a kid.





Kids tend to join gangs because they're looking for the closeness and acceptance they aren't getting in the home.





These facts lead me to feel that in an intact marriage is the best place for a baby to be born. Parents who are married and committed to each other, who are mature, responsable, stable, etc provide an excelent environment for a child to grow and learn social skills (like obeying rules, work ethic, etc).





Unfortuntely, everyone has choices- even kids. Up to a certain extent, parents are responible for their kids' choices, but you can be the best parent in the world, and if your kid is hell-bent on being a pill, there's not much Mom and Dad can do but make sure there are unpleasant repercussions.





A passage of christian scripture states, ';raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he shall not depart from it.'; This almost implies that youthful rebelion is to be expected, but that when the ';child'; matures (not always a matter of years), he will see the wisdom of what Mom and Dad taught him.





Random thoughts on parenting...


I don't think it's reasonable to expect a child that has not been taught that rules have consequences to obey laws.


When a child is given everything he asks for, with no effort put forth, he learns that he has a right to anything he wants (translation- If I want that ____, I can just take it- don't matter that it's not mine...)





Side note-


Have you ever seen the essay on ';mean moms';?? The woman who wrote it recounts how she thought her mom was the meanest ever- she made her kids bathe every night, eat their vegies, do their homework, conform to a curfew, do chores. She made them tell her where they were going, who they'd be with, when they planned to be home and a phone #... etc. As an adult, this woman now looks back and hopes her kids see her the same way she saw her mom.
I don't know what country Kazcatlover is living in, but in the US serious crime has been decreasing for several years, so if you live in the US please stop spreading lies about rising crime. Our incarceration rates are the highest in the industrialized world (USSR and South Africa used to be ahead of us, but no more), so there's no justification for the ';soft on crime'; charges. I think it's mainly a propaganda club for bashing liberals and distracting attention from other problems that don't play so well on TV.





Solid marriages and solid families would definitely lead to better-raised and less criminal kids. I think that's more important than ';skill'; per se. Skill in parenting can't be measured like in carpentry or baseball. That's just my observation, I can't prove it with data or ';thoughtful reasons';. It is difficult to affect family function through social policy, however. You can make it harder to get a divorce but you can't legislate functional families. I think we should be looking at social policies in countries with low crime rates and see what's working for them that we could emulate without violating our democratic ideals.
I think it has a lot, if not everything, to do with it. If children are brought up in a secure, loving home with clear boundaries and rules these children will become better adjusted adults. Parents need to teach children to take responsibility for their actions, what they say and how they treat others, This needs to be started from day one until they leave your care.





As a teacher I could tell exactly what to expect on my first parent-teacher evening just by looking at the behaviour of a child and the way (s)he interacted with his peers and adults in the school. Obviously if they fall into a bad crowd as a teenager this would cause problems but if the channels of communication are kept open between parent and child I think they will come around and see sense.





I have seen too many beautiful children ruined by their parents because the parents have been too strict, too lenient or just disinterested in their own role as a parent. I won't get on my soap box but if you've got a month or two spare......!





However society as a whole has a responsibility to take. So-called human rights have messed up common sense of how to deal with disruptive children and adults. We are too soft on crime and allow people to get away with the ';it wasn't my fault I wasn't myself'; mentality. People have to start to take responsibility for their actions and not be allowed by society to get away with it. Until this happens crime will continue to increase.





Rant over
Parenting skills are VERY IMPORTANY , most of these criminals come form broken homes...or no parents...its important for a child to have a nice healthy home...
not sure. i do know that they say the time factor is huge. spend time with them. play with them coach them. hell your kids are going to run the country when we are gone. help them to understand the important things so they can do a better job than we are doing. we suck
Hmmm, good parenting skills = child understands boundaries and consequences.


Bad parenting skills = child has no concept of boundaries and has never faced consequences -- HEY, I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT.


Seems like an easy comparison to me!!!


And this next statement in NO WAY advocates child abuse, just parenting skills. Has anyone else noticed over the past many years that this ';kindler, gentler'; rearing of children has produced a generation ill-behaved, oblivious and entitled 'monsters' in large part.
This is a very hard question. I have two children raised EXACTLY the same way. I won't admit to ever being a perfect parent but did my best. My oldest son got into drugs and has been in trouble for years and years. My younger son gets good grades, is planning his career out already and he still has a year left in school. They ARE BOTH very loving and compassionate but my oldest will steal to get what he needs. I didn't teach him to do drugs in any way whatsoever so......a lot of the crime is related to drugs and addiction (most of it) and you really shouldn't ';blame'; the parents all the time for this epidemic -- although many who haven't walked in that parents' shoes might ';blame'; -- sometimes people feel the need to put blame on someone for anything that happens regardless of if it is the right person to blame.
to quite an extent i guess. mostly the children whoseparents dont have time for them are the ones who resort criminal activities(stealing, abusing, fighting). good parenting would curb these activities hugely.
I think the biggest problem with crime rate is parents focusing to much one one aspect of raising a child. So they think they are doing whats right and they often mean no harm. To many parents focus primarily on discipline, they don't show their children much love or affection, so these children grow up with out any true feeling of love. They know that every action has a consequent, and they choose to start handing out their own consciences. Then there are those that don't discipline their children at all, they give them all they want because they ';love'; them. These children often never learn to follow rules or respect to others because life is all about them. People growing up to commit crime is a sever case but you see it a lot in cases not as sever. Such as the adult that wont keep a job or the person who punches wholes on the wall