News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

A jury in suburban Chicago convicted Tara and Daniel Hutsell this week of endangering the life of a child and lying to police after two teenagers died in a car crash after attending a party at their home.

The Hutsells, both age 53, will be sentenced in September.

Both adults were home during a party hosted by their son. Two eighteen-year-old guests died when their car slammed into a tree. The driver was legally drunk, and the passenger had been smoking marijuana.

More and more states are passing laws that make parents legally responsible for the consequences of underage drinking in their homes, according to James Mosher, director of the Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy. Mosher said he was unsure if the criminalization of parents would become a good way of preventing other such tragedies.

The parent of one of the boys at the party, Vicki Ettelson, disagreed.

"Parents cannot operate under the assumption that drinking occurs, and there's not a lot that we as parents can do about it," she said. "It's okay to say no."

Parents accept responsibility for their teen drivers every time their child gets behind the wheel. Learn the risks involved in this informative article: Parental Liability for Underage Drivers.

Labels: driving, liability, responsibility