City Council committee rejects ordinance to hold parents responsible for childrens' lawbreaking

Chicago parents will not be held accountable for curfew violations, street racing, drug, alcohol and firearms offenses committed by their children.

The City Council’s Committee on Public Safety made that decision Tuesday, snuffing out an ordinance championed by 15th Ward Ald. Ray Lopez for the purpose of “creating better parents,” as he put it.

Lopez tried to keep the ordinance alive by offering to hold it, allowing time to entertain amendments that would have softened the potential legal blow to parents and legal guardians.

But opposition was so strong, a "do not pass" motion by 40th Ward Ald. Andre Vasquez prevailed, 10-5.

The debate showcased the Council's political divide. Conservative alderpersons, who are among the police union’s staunchest supporters, want to get tougher on crime. Democratic Socialists and other progressives seem more, or at least equally, concerned about preserving individual rights.

Lopez argued the Council already has agreed to hold parents responsible for spray-painting and graffiti by their kids and that doing so has led to a “precipitous decline” in that vandalism.

The results would be the same, Lopez added, if parents were held accountable for “willfully or knowingly” allow a minor under their care to violate a broader array of crimes that include curfew violations; illegal drag racing, drifting or jumping on vehicles; illicit drug or alcohol use and access to firearms or paintball guns.

Parents accused of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” who commits any one of those crimes would have faced fines of at least $1,000, community service and family counseling. In a last-ditch effort to salvage the ordinance, Lopez offered to change “all of the above” to a choice between those three penalties.

“I do not want to criminalize parenting. What I want to do is wake parents up. Too often, we have youth running around with no guidance, no parental awareness,” Lopez said.

“They should be fully aware where their children are. If they are not, or they are knowingly dismissing what their children are up to, they should be held accountable, plain and simple. … The goal isn’t about the money. The goal is about better parenting.”

Police Committee Chair Chris Taliaferro (29th), a former police sergeant, was the first to object, saying he "can't support" an ordinance that is "looking to hold a parent liable as if they committed the act themselves, which I believe would fall short of being constitutional.”

Assistant Corporation Counsel Kristopher Kolb said he was not aware of any other section of the city code "that would authorize imprisonment for vicarious liablity.”

Northwest Side Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) acknowledged the legal question was a “tough one,” adding: “You don’t want to hit up parents too hard.”

He nevertheless agreed with Lopez that it’s high-time to get tough on parents.

Sposato kept pushing, even after Kolb said someone who isn't committing a crime themselves "is generally not liable for a crime committed by another person, even if they are related.”

“I know what’s going on," Sposato said. "There’s bad parents. Some parents have their challenges. I don’t doubt that. They have kids that are out of control. They’re at wit’s end. They don’t know what to do. But, some parents enable some of these kids to do what they do."

The political and philosophical divide in the City Council also stalled approval of another crime-fighting ordinance championed by Lopez — this one dramatically cracking down on anyone who commits any of a broad swath of crimes while concealing or attempting to conceal their identify by wearing a mask, hoodie or similar clothing.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, Lopez said criminals have taken to wearing masks, scarves, hoodies and other clothing to make it difficult for police and witnesses to identify them.

“We see time and again that people are being carjacked by someone wearing masks. Stores being broken into. … Ten thousand robberies against small businesses. We have ATM rings where we see video … (of thieves) wearing masks. We have to address this,” Lopez said.

Vasquez joined Alds. Matt Martin (47th) and Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th) in arguing that Lopez was once again going too far.

Vasquez, who wore a hoodie to the hearing, said: "I've got problems with the hoodie thing in general — and not just because I'm wearing one. ... The level of profiling and the level of racial profiling that's occurred with people wearing hoodies and other clothing is a concern."

Sposato was exasperated by the debate.

"Boy, did this get twisted around," he said. "How 'bout somebody who's wearing a hoodie when it's 80 degrees out? ... These restaurant owners are losing everything. These scumbags are going in there robbing 'em blind, concealing their identity."