Support for holding parents accountable for their children's crimes is growing in the US
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Support for holding parents accountable for their children's crimes is growing in the US
In earlier this year, Jennifer and James Crumbley became the of involuntary manslaughter for a mass shooting committed by their child.
On April 9, they were each , the maximum penalty for the crime. Prosecutors argued the Crumbleys that their son Ethan was having violent thoughts, and that the parents provided access to the gun he used to kill four classmates and injure seven other people at his school in November 2021.
According to , legal observers have said that , yet many still wonder if it now sets a precedent for a "slippery slope," where for what their children do. "I don't have a lot of confidence in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion to pick and choose only cases like this," Northern Illinois University law professor Evan Bernick told Al Jazeera. "Once you've got a hammer — and this is definitely a hammer — everything can look like a nail."
Some worry that while the Crumbleys are white, an expansion of criminal charges against parents for the actions of their children would or poor parents. That's the concern in Tennessee, where some lawmakers recently introduced a bill that would .
At least one other recent school shooting case has also led to the novel application of criminal charges against adults. In Newport News, Virginia, prosecutors with felony child neglect. The charges came after that school administrators ignored four warnings from students and staff that a 6-year-old boy had a gun at school. The boy shot his teacher the same day. Like in the Crumbley case, the charge against a school administrator is , and prosecutors said Thursday that there .
Deja Taylor, the mother of the child, was . The state sentence was in addition to a separate related to her purchase of the gun used.
The Newport News elementary school shooting was of how young is too young for a child to face criminal charges. Prosecutors have , but legally nothing stopped them from doing so. Last month, Virginia Gov. Glen Youngkin that would have restricted prosecutors from charging children younger than 11, saying in part that it undermined public safety.
A chimed in on Youngkin's decision, arguing in a USA Today opinion article that, "A child who can barely read needs treatment, not incarceration, and there are countless ways to address accountability and also get that child the necessary support to thrive and grow without involving a courtroom or prosecution."
In Maryland, the issues of charging parents for what children do, and how young is too young for criminal prosecution, have also been roiling. There, that will let prosecutors with certain crimes. The was age 13. The move comes , allegedly committed by young people. It also follows a pair of involving young people last year. But the measure also comes against the backdrop of an in the state over the past decade.
in Maryland each year are accused of the crimes in the new law, something that advocates on both sides of the legislation have pointed to, according to reporting by The Baltimore Banner's Brenda Wintrode. Opponents of the law said it was . Critics also generally argue that involvement with the juvenile criminal justice system may rather than prevent it. Supporters of the law said that given the small number of incidents, the legislation won't cause a notable being pulled into the system.
Kids aren't the only ones who could start being pulled into the system more often in Maryland. In an announcement highlighting the arrest of 20 young people accused of crimes earlier this month, Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates warning: "From here on out, if you are found to be contributing to the delinquency of a minor child, my office will look to charge you and hold you accountable."
