Wikipedia
Sippenhaft or Sippenhaftung (, kin liability) refers to the principle of a family sharing the responsibility for a crime committed by one of its members, a form of guilt by association. A relative of the perpetrator could thus be punished in place of or in addition to the perpetrator, depending on the circumstances.
As a legal principle, it is derived from Germanic law in the middle ages, there usually in the form of fines and compensations. The same principle is historically found in many pre-Christian European cultures, and in non-Western cultures such as that of China and Japan. In the modern era kin guilt is rarely given legal basis, though it remains common in clan-based societies. In exceptional cases, Sippenhaft-like punishments are used as a deterrent against terrorism, such as in the Russian Federation.
Another form of Sippenhaft distinct from traditional kin liability is the practice of kin punishment, often used in totalitarian states as a form of extortion or harassment, most associated with Nazi Germany towards the end of World War II. Contemporary examples of this form of Sippenhaft include North Korea.