My brother is the father of several teenage girls. So like any dad with teenage girls, he spends a lot of time cleaning out his shotgun (figuratively speaking). I recall one time when one of his daughters was attracted to the “bad boy” type. He told her she couldn’t see him, and she was defiant.
At his wits ends, he asked me for some advice. I told him he should go after the boyfriend. So he went to see the boyfriend and told him while he couldn’t stop his daughter from seeing him, he could stop the boyfriend from seeing. The boyfriend took a hint and got lost.
I bring this up because it looks like we are finally going to have a serious discussion about crime and violence in Indianapolis, and I for one am a very happy camper.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step toward solving it. And as we run down the list of options I want to spend some time on accountability, starting with parents.
As we look at our juvenile crime, there are a lot of calls to hold parents accountable. I argue we start with what I call Indiana’s parental liability law. Under that statute a parent is liable for their kid’s criminal gang activity up to $5,000 if the parent had custody of the kid, the child lives with the parent and the parent didn’t take reasonable steps to solve the problem.
I think that concept should be expanded to include that if your child is a chronic offender, then not only should you be financially on the hook, but if you are getting any government assistance, you get cut off. Punish bad parents for the actions of their bad children.
It’s one thing for the single mother who is trying to do the right thing with her incorrigible hellion. However, if mom is out in a club engaging in the same behavior that got her the kid in the first place, then why should we foot the bill?
If we’re going to talk about punishment, we should talk about the decent, hardworking people who live in these areas but are afraid to venture out of the home because these hoodlums have turned their neighborhoods into little Mogadishu.
And while we’re at it, we may as well go after bad landlords. It is not uncommon that the folks who like to commit crime and terrorize their neighborhoods also like to terrorize their immediate neighbors. How hard can it be to pass a statute that allows for criminal activity to be an evictable offense? And if the landlords won’t deal with the issue, then maybe the city or municipality should shut down the apartment complex as a threat to public safety.
This is the point where someone will ask, where will these people live? My response is hopefully not near people who know how to act.
We are not going to change the behavior of some people, however we can change the environment they operate in and make life difficult for them. Then maybe they will either get their acts together or take a hike.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney, political commentator and publisher of IndyPolitics.org. You can email comments to him at abdul@indypolitics.org.
