Restitution should be paid by the vandals themselves
All three of the underage Westwood Warriors were ordered to pay restitution by Juvenile Judge Larry Ross this week — or at least their parents were ordered to pay.
It would be fitting justice to make the kids pay themselves but considering two of the children are 13 — and one is a mere 10 years old — there is no legal framework in place to hold them responsible. Thus the duty falls to the parents to pay some $3,300 in restitution in two of the cases.
We at the Standard are hopeful the parents don’t treat this rash of vandalism lightly and we feel it is their responsibility to pass the financial obligation along to their children. By saying this, we’re not trying to tell parents how to raise their kids. In fact, since the case was handled in Juvenile Court, we don’t even know who the parents and who the children are.
What we do know is the group known as the Westwood Warriors far overstepped the boundaries of a simple childhood prank.
Filling a neighbor’s yard with toilet paper on Halloween night might be considered juvenile mischief. Causing around $10,000 worth of damage to over 20 property owners over a week-long timeframe is not mischief – it’s destruction.
The children responsible need to understand the severity of their actions. The fact they vandalized property several nights in a row – not during one brief lapse of judgment – indicates the children might not know the difference between right and wrong.
What better way to illustrate that point than to make a 13-year-old responsible for a $3,000 debt. It might seem harsh, but then again so were their actions.
This sort of behavior needs to be addressed now so it doesn’t continue into their adult years.