noatom: making parents ultimately responsible would be a good first step. But at least in the US, this is not the norm. Most children who commit crimes (for example) serve time in juvi or jail or prison on their own.
The reason parents are not held responsible is because it would be the first chink in the armor of the "personal responsibility" doctrine. It would open up discussions about things like worker pay that results in both parents working and children seeing their teachers and peers more than they do their own parents during K-12. Then of course refusing to deal with the pay issues, you'd have to blame the next adults on the totem pole... teachers. Otherwise we'll just have it your way and do nothing and let the kids rob and kill the people you know.But we'll blame the kids and throw them in jail and that should make up for your loss.
noatom: I don't know how to ask this question without seeming antagonistic. But how do you know your view of "blame the parents" is not just a product of media indoctrination? What is the basis for the position of parents in our society being the be all and end all of child guidance? There are societies past and present in humans and non humans where all members of the tribe or society rear the children for the benefit of the society.
Children are influenced by so many things, it's really a cop out in the end to just say "parents are responsible!" or "personal responsibility!" Even if you judge that the parent(s) are MOST responsible (besides the fact you're now opening the door to mutliple responsiblities) is that any excuse for the rest of society to ignore the welfare of children that aren't theres? We already know that is not the case. So the question is how far does that responsibility for other children of the society go?