Senator Stuart Syvret wants to give the Magistrate the power to jail people who fail again and again to keep their children under control.
He is calling for the Children’s Law to be amended and says that the new powers could be in place as soon as next year.
Senator Syvret said: ‘I want the law to be amended so that if the police or youth workers find 13-year-olds drunk in the streets at 4 am their parents can then be taken to court and charged.
‘People should be held accountable for their children’s actions and fined heavily or possibly jailed if they continue to fail in their responsibility as parents.’ Senator Syvret says that he will immediately ask his officers to begin drawing up amendments with a view to seeing them taken to the States next year.
He does not blame the gangs of youths who gather on streets drinking – he blames their parents for ‘failing in their responsibility’.
The Senator says that it is a child protection issue and many parents need to ‘shape up’.
