North Tonawanda law punishes parents for their kids’ bullying

Thomas Prohaska:

North Tonawanda has a message for parents of bullies: If your kid commits a crime, you might do the time.

Not a lot of time – no more than 15 days – but long enough to reflect on your bad parenting from the inside of a jail cell.

A new anti-bullying law passed by the North Tonawanda Common Council last week is the first of its kind in Western New York and may be the first in New York State, City Attorney Luke A. Brown said. It places the legal onus on parents of minors who bully other kids, host parties where laws are violated, or who stay out after the city’s curfew.

The law sprang from the frustration of parents and police over juvenile violence earlier this year in North Tonawanda.