Donoghue, Jane (2011) Truancy and the prosecution of parents: an unfair burden on mothers? Modern Law Review, 74 (2). pp. 216-244. ISSN 0026-7961

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Abstract

This article considers the development and use of the law regulating the prosecution of parents under section 444 of the Education Act 1996, in the broader context of legislation and policy initiatives concerned with the governance of parental responsibility. It explores the ways in which the power to prosecute parents has been used by local educational authorities (LEAs) and interpreted by the courts. The article critically analyses the manner in which the powers emphasise punishment and retribution in the context of the social moralisation of ‘flawed’ parents; pay insufficient regard to the effects of parental responsibility laws on low-income, single parent families; represent an attempt to impose a simple solution on to a complex socio-economic problem; and amplify the scope for mothers to be made the subject of criminal justice interventions. It is argued that the prosecution of parents imposes an unfair burden on mothers and, in particular, single parent mothers

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Law
Subjects:	K Law > KD Law of the United Kingdom and Ireland > KD0051 England and Wales
Depositing User:	Jane Donoghue
Date Deposited:	16 Jan 2013 15:24
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 22:30
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43472

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