If you aren't familiar with this latest caper, the basic details are as follows: The Barefoot Bandit (ne: Colton Harris-Moore) is 19 years old and it appears he started out small, breaking into homes of neighbors, ostensibly to steal food since his mother spent her days drinking, made no attempt to hold down a job or stock food in their own home and seemingly forced him to forage for himself at a young age. With no father in the picture, records show that Child Protective Services was called to his home more than a dozen times by the time he was 15. His mother was repeatedly investigated for mistreatment of her son (once after she was seen harshly beating him in the head when he was only 4) but yet, was never prosecuted.
The family lived in a dilapidated trailer in a rural area of Washington state, protected by a homemade sign that read, "if you go past this sign, you will be shot." Neighbors reported hearing loud arguments at all hours and eventually, the young boy (some say by age 7) began living in the wild on his own. Surviving by stealing food and finding shelter in abandoned homes, his teen years brought several arrests, but nothing more than short stays in juvenile detention centers. It seems he somehow taught himself how to fly an airplane and this spring, took off on a cross-country chase, stealing cars and making his way by private plane (not his) to the Bahamas where he was caught. He now awaits trial on multiple charges at a federal detention center back in Washington.
His own attorney surmises that if he'd had proper direction, he probably wouldn't have done what he stands accused of doing. So, while he is clearly at fault and deserves to be punished for these crimes, is his abuser (aka: his mother) also somewhat responsible and should she also bear some of the legal burden as well? As a mother, did her negligent behavior predispose and in effect, drive her son to a life of crime as a matter of survival?
Part of this scares me. As a mom myself, I don't want to be held responsible for the behavior of my adult children (unless they end up as President or Supreme Court Justice). But, if my actions somehow directly related to their behavior, would it be fair to say that I should also be found at fault? Isn't it sort of like being accessory to a crime? Or is it an impossible standard to uphold since you can't prove a parent actually knows their child would commit such crimes as a result of your poor parenting skills.
It's not that I think that my son will eventually start robbing convenience stores because he'll recall that I gave his sister a bigger dessert than he got one night when he was two. This story obviously goes much deeper. The shameful behavior on the part of the mother involved is significant enough that I think a reasonable parent would know that they were setting a horribly wrong example for their child that would lead to no good. But, I'm assuming that unless she somehow knew or suspected that he was committing crimes, she will not be held responsible for the actions of her son, regardless of her role in creating a hostile atmosphere that potentially paved the path to these crimes.
Much has yet to come out, both regarding the crimes of the Barefoot Bandit and the role his mother may have played in creating an living hell for her child. Regardless, I'd like to know why a social worker who interiewed Mrs. Harris-Moore when her son was first arrested at age 12, wrote the following in her report: “Colton wants Mom to stop drinking and smoking, get a job and have food in the house. Mom refuses.”
Isn't that a crime in and of itself?
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