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Who is responsible for paying a minor's fines?


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Can one be arrested for a crime commited by one's child?

 

I don't think you can directly; you can certainly be arrested for negligently allowing your child to commit some act or other, since you are responsible for keeping your own children under control.

 

A lot of people argue precisely this point, saying that if we can't arrest and prosecute a nine-year-old for beating someone up, we should arrest his parents and jail them for assault. I assume, since they're arguing that we should do, that under existing law we cannot.

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Sounds about right.

 

Im pretty sure in law Children are your responsibility until the age of 18 so a fine etc would become the parent's responsibility....

 

No doubt followed by a punishment on the child from the parents themselves if they have any sense.

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I don't think you can directly; you can certainly be arrested for negligently allowing your child to commit some act or other, since you are responsible for keeping your own children under control.

 

A lot of people argue precisely this point, saying that if we can't arrest and prosecute a nine-year-old for beating someone up, we should arrest his parents and jail them for assault. I assume, since they're arguing that we should do, that under existing law we cannot.

 

But you are not arrested for the act - you are arrested for the seperate offence of negligently allowing someone to do etc etc.

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I often wonder why adults whinge when their under-age offspring commit offences and they do nothing to stop them indeed they seem to think its a badge of honour and their little darlings have rights. But the minute they are brought to book and expected to take responsibility for not taking charge of the minors in their care they start with the 'its not my fault, why should I be punished' syndrome.:roll::roll::roll: THE CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN

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If a minor is under 16 and a fine is issued by a court then the parents are ordered to pay it. If the minor is 16 or 17 then it depends on whether they have an income and how much that is.

 

This applies to court issued fines only and not Fixed Penalty Notices, i.e. speeding fines, littering etc., although these will lead to court issued fines if not paid.

 

Edited to add: With regard to the OP, she must have been ordered to pay the fine by the court in the first place. They can't arrest her for non-payment of a fine that was issued to her son if he was deemed capable of paying.

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Hmmm, what is the fine for? Perhaps it is for non-attendance at school, in that case it would be something that the child had done that the fine had been levied for, but it was the parent who was expected to pay as they're responsible for getting them to school.

 

OP was it something like that?

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What with the financial discrimination against the youth, they should incur smaller fines than adults as they have less of an ability to pay them off.

 

With a minimum wage of £3.64 for a 16 year old and 5.93 for a 21 year old, an £80 fine should be (3.64/5.93)*£80 ~ £50.

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I should add that for an arrest to be made for non-payment of fines, there must be a warrant. That warrant will be in the name of the person to whom the fine was issued. If the fine was issued to the son, they cannot arrest his mother with that warrant. Therefore the fine must have been issued in her name in the first place and she must have been aware of it.

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Ok

A boy commits crime up to the age of being 18. He is never sent to prison but incurs fines. Before the boy's 18th birthday the police come to his house for non-payment of fines but because the boy is a minor, his mother is arrested instead. Do you think this is fair? I do. The parent is responsible for the child and must be held accountable for his actions.

 

So Mother pays the fine then holds it against the boy until he has paid her off. Do you think this is fair? Because she is responsible for him up until the age of 18.

 

What do you think?

 

It's fine (pun intended).

 

I see it this way - if the mother was any sort of parent, she would have let the little sod get into trouble in the first place so the fines are as much hers for being crap.

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