Deceptively Moral
A woman admitted Monday that she coached her two children to fake retardation starting when they were 4 and 8 years old so she could collect Social Security benefits on their behalf.
The mother is obviously wrong for doing this, but at least one of the children (now an adult) have also been arrested. My question is, since they were essentially indoctrinated with this behavior, at what point did they become morally responsible for their actions?
If they were still young children, holding them responsible for fraud would seem absurd, yet is it not equally absurd that we assume people magically become morally responsible adults based on attaining adulthood? At some point, we assume the children clearly realized the deception they were participating in was wrong, but when exactly would that have occurred? One might also argue that had the mother not coached them, they would not have participated in such behavior.
Should they have turned their mother in or refused to cooperate upon reaching that magical moment of clarity? Did it ever really occur?
The mother is obviously wrong for doing this, but at least one of the children (now an adult) have also been arrested. My question is, since they were essentially indoctrinated with this behavior, at what point did they become morally responsible for their actions?
If they were still young children, holding them responsible for fraud would seem absurd, yet is it not equally absurd that we assume people magically become morally responsible adults based on attaining adulthood? At some point, we assume the children clearly realized the deception they were participating in was wrong, but when exactly would that have occurred? One might also argue that had the mother not coached them, they would not have participated in such behavior.
Should they have turned their mother in or refused to cooperate upon reaching that magical moment of clarity? Did it ever really occur?