WILL ‘PUNK PARENTS’ FACE THE LAW? Senator Makes His Case Before The Good Kids

BY TONY WEST/ Young persons who repeatedly violate the law may wind up in court for their misdeeds. If a measure now being considered in the State Senate comes to pass, some of their parents may wind up standing before a Judge as well.

State Sen. Anthony Williams introduced SB 99, which provides for “liability of parents and guardians and for pretrial diversion program.” It would impose a fine of up to $2,500 and a sentence of up to one year on an adult deemed responsible for a minor child is getting into serious trouble with the law or at school, if that adult does not work with authorities to mend the child’s ways.

A coalition of the city’s top leaders in law enforcement and education appeared in support of Williams’ proposal at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week. They included Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, School District Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, DA Seth Williams, and a representative of Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan.

Youthful violence has triggered public outrage as street shootings and flash mobs capture headlines. But most unruly behavior first crosses society’s radar in school. Poor academic achievement, serious disciplinary infractions and truancy go hand in hand. An early life of crime often begins with crimes in school.

The Senate hearing took place in Boys Latin School in Cobbs Creek, and the setting was part of the message. Although this charter school is in a hard-pressed inner-city neighborhood, its students are disciplined and achievement- oriented. This school is known for strong parental involvement. With proper adult guidance, Philadelphia’s teenagers can succeed.

Too many don’t get that guidance, though. “In many cases, we have kids raising kids. We have parents in poverty dealing with substance abuse. We have parents who themselves are engaged in criminal activities. Some are violent in the home. Some had bad experiences in school themselves,” argued Seth Williams.

It’s not that they don’t care about their children’s future, the DA continued. But many of them lack essential parenting skills or need to improve them. “The intent of SB 99 is to address the conduct of offending parents, not to produce convictions.”

Not all bad youngsters have bad parents, and Sen. Williams’ legislation relies on DAs to recognize those who are cooperating with academic and juvenile-justice authorities to the best of their ability. But others need leverage to learn to clean up their parental act, and that is what the threat of a misdemeanor conviction would provide. In the same way low-level DUI defendants are “diverted” into ARD treatment programs to improve their understanding of substance abuse, parents who are not providing adequate supervision would be steered into programs that press their duties upon them.

Teachers in troubled schools know they’re not getting enough backup from parents. “Our research and experiences tells us that somewhere between 70% and 90% of discipline problems have their root cause in places outside the school,” said Rosalind Jones-Johnson, who is Director of Education for the PFT Health & Welfare Fund. “SB 99 is necessary because in far too many families the values necessary for success and safety in schools are either untaught or, more importantly, unlived.”

Parents are already required to supervise underage children to prevent truancy, and to work with treatment programs for the child. But Judges are reluctant to use their contempt-of-court sentencing power to enforce the rules on balky parents. Giving prosecutors a legal tool to go after these adult offenders would strengthen their compliance with the programs, Seth Williams asserted.

And prosecutors have a stake in better-disciplined school-age youths, he continued, because “the best long-term strategy to reduce crime is to ensure that our children get a good education, are not truant, and graduate.”

Sen. Williams’ bill will undoubtedly be worked over. The DA proposed several technical changes. He also expressed concern the added treatment programs would become an unfunded mandate upon courts – and that the programs themselves wouldn’t be created.

Some witnesses saw these as fatal flaws in the legislation. Shelly Yanoff, who heads Public Citizens for Children and Youth, said imposing new fines and fees on troubled low-income families “may exacerbate rather than improve their family life.” As for the diversion programs, she noted, “In many cases, these, like other prevention-type programs, have been very vulnerable to being defunded and thus tend to disappear when the economic going gets tough.”

Yanoff has a point. This year, for instance, Don’t Fall Down In The Hood, an early-intervention program for youthful offenders, lost half its funding from the Dept. of Human Services and had to let most of its clients go. That’s not something either the DA or Family Court can control.

An attorney from the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia echoed Yanoff’s criticism. “Imposing large fines on poor parents and threatening or putting them in jail does not eliminate, or appear to reduce, truancy,” he stated. “In fact, it allows school districts to avoid working with parents to develop truancy-elimination plans. Instead, they just go to court.”
In the City of Lebanon, Pa., with 4,500 students, Churchill reported courts imposed $500,000 in fines on parents last year and sentenced three single mothers to jail. “We don’t need to fill our expensive and overcrowded jails with more nonviolent offenders because someone thinks they can be better parents,” he said.

Figuring out whom to prosecute and whom not to is the devil in the details of Williams’ proposal. But in Philadelphia, powerful advocates now think it’s an effort worth making.

Sen. Williams recounted his own experiences on the receiving end of school violence, as he grew up in West Philadelphia. “We need a system that holds parents accountable for their inability to instill discipline, but also ensures parents they can steer their children in the right direction. I am glad we are beginning to have this conversation,” he said. Don’t be surprised if it enters into his bid for the gubernatorial nomination in the Democratic primary this spring.

As the Senator enjoys backing from the able Senate Judiciary Chairman Stewart Greenleaf along with three of his colleagues from Philadelphia, it is a conversation that must be listened to.

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