Unless his parents follow through on making him come work for you, I doubt if you will have much say in how he is punished unless juvenile court is a lot different where you live. I don't remember, did you press charges at all or was it the fire dept. or something? I was thinking it wasn't you. I don't know if that will make a difference or not. If he has never been in trouble and his parents don't make him do anything to pay for his mischief then he may get off with a slap on the wrist. I hope not but sometimes that is what happens. We have a young man in our church family who stays in trouble. His family always finds a way to buy him out of trouble by getting fancy lawyers and stuff but it finally caught up to him and he now has a prison record. So sad for them all but when he was a young teen getting into small stuff Freddy tried to tell his Mom not to bail him out of everything and to make him be responsible but she wouldn't listen. Now she won't even look at Freddy because she knows he was right. I used to babysit this boy so it really is sad to us. He is a druggie and sells it too. I worry that he will end up getting killed over it all.
I have to agree with Sloan's sentiment. Unless his parents start making him live with the consequences of his actions, he will never shape up. Personal responsibility - something lost in the current generation.
I have to agree with that. We see it all the time with the teen employees we have. Most kids, and even some adults, today have the "entitlement" mentality. They feel they are entitiled to the things that the rest of us have had to work hard for. When they don't get those things, they take on the "victim" mentality. There is no sense of responsibility...and take no initiative to do what should be expected. It is a shame, really. It is because of this mentality that dh and I want to instill a strong work ethic in our children. It is hard when they see others around them just getting things without having to work for it. Sorry...I could go on and on about that! :roll:
QG, it is for the betering of thier life style that they get set to a group instructional setting, the Bible Study is just that, a group instructional setting. And many Judges in our country are Christians, so if they know of a good study they can send you there.. we have a huge recovery group in our church because we have many from recovery camps and group homes that come to 'fulfill thier sentence' by going to church.. it may not have been said in exact words but it is infered in many ways.
I'm not saying it's not a good idea. I'm just saying that, given our laws, any judge who gives a sentence requiring religious training is taking a chance with his or her job. As a result, I just don't see any of that here. Of course, I live near Washington, DC, so maybe it is because we are so overrun with lawyers here. :shock:
:wink: lo; could be , re DC I guess I am one o fthe people who still believes our country was founded on Christian principals.
Actually, T'mom, it COULD depend on where you live. I understand exactly what QG is saying, and she's right. Any judge who REQUIRES anything religious would be asking for trouble here. Perhaps in less liberal areas the judge could still get away with it. At the same time, if the judge required "community service", there's nothing to keep a person from volunteering at a church. Also, I feel it would be very appropriate, if a person vandalizes a church, for that person to be required to do community service at that particular church.
Yes, that's why I was disappointed when his dad offered to pay off the damages! I don't know that they're going to make him have to take responsibility for what he did! What they decide in court is separate from what he and his dad and I said about him working it off to pay for the minor damage caused. If the judge has him do community service of some sort, then maybe that would cover it, but we were talking about personal responsibility to the ones (my family) the damage was afflicted on. I agree with the person doing community service for a church if that was where the person vandalized, but as much as I would like these people to go to Bible studies and prayer meetings, I don't think it's right to force them into it with a sentence, because it won't achieve the desired result, and may turn them AWAY from religion.
hey, I just was remembered of a more recent thing, we had our home burlgled by the people taking care of its daughter and a boyfriend of the othe rdaughter, the people taking care of it wanted to pay oru deductable, but we chose not to, the dd ended up in recovery program as a result of our break in ( she is the one who opened thehouse and handed the keys back to the other dude, ) anyway, the dd is now a christian mom and whole family goes to church.
