HAMILTON (CMC):

Bermuda's Home Affairs Minister David Burch has said parents of children who are accused of crimes should also face trial.

He announced his controversial idea at a news conference and said he was seeking to steer the proposal into law as he hit out against parents living in denial about wayward children.

Stressing that he was not speaking for Cabinet, but was expressing his own personal views, Burch said: "I am of the view that, particularly in cases of young people and children, we adults are responsible and we are certainly exploring ... having the ability to hold parents accountable.

"For instance, if a child is charged with a crime, it is my view that the parent should be standing in the dock charged with them and that is what we are exploring."

He said the idea could go to Cabinet and if approved could see law amendments.

Parents are responsible

Asked if a similar concept was done anywhere else in the world, Burch said: "I don't know. But that is not a reason for me to stop. I think parents are responsible for children.

"Certainly, if one looks at the amendments that we made to the Children's Act 2000, I believe it was, where children have certain rights and we adults have certain responsibilities that comes with their protection, care and well-being.

"To abdicate that responsibility ... certainly warrants some type of sanction. To date, I don't think it exists. What we have now is young people going to court and mommy coming and saying 'he's my innocent little puppy and you have got it all wrong'. I think we have to switch that up."

He said the subject was slightly outside the remit of his brief but he added: "I take the view that it is a matter that should interest and concern us all in government and particularly in this ministry. The alternative is to make the investment at the front end and try to get it right."

Fixing it in the prison system was more costly, Burch said.

Shadow Attorney General Mark Pettingill said making parents responsible for their children crimes was "nonsense and would never work".

But he said he was in favour of making parents more responsible for the whereabouts of their children and noted when he had suggested a Parental Responsibility Act in the Senate a few years ago, Burch had scoffed at it.

Three strikes

He said in the election campaign, the ruling Progressive Labour Party had attacked the opposition United Bermuda Party's 'three strikes' policy, which would have brought in longer sentences for persistent serious offenders, but was now actually trying to go further.

Pettingill said teen curfews, as practised in Las Vegas and some Nordic countries, would be a welcome step as he advocated fines for parents whose children broke those limits.

He said: "There is no reason why a 12-year-old has any business being on the streets at 11 o'clock on a school night.

"A curfew would give the police more powers to clear the streets and could help reduce gang violence and teenage pregnancies," said Pettingill.