Opinion | The Conviction of a School Shooter’s Mother
New York TimesFeb 07
Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a Michigan teenager who shot and killed four classmates at Oxford High School, was found guilty on Monday of involuntary manslaughter in connection with her son Ethan’s shooting.
Crumbley is the first US parent to be convicted over a child's mass shooting. Prosecutors claim she ignored clear warning signs from Ethan and acted criminally negligent by allowing him to have a gun at 15 years old. Ethan, now 17, is serving a lifetime sentence for his Nov. 30, 2021, massacre.
The jury made the morally and legally correct decision to hold Jennifer Crumbley criminally responsible for her son's shooting, sending a message that parents must be diligent in monitoring their children's behavior. While Crumbley might not be a cold-blooded murderer herself, she should have been able to tell that her son was not in a secure mental state, yet she opted to buy him a gun instead of getting him the help he needed.
While some gun violence activists may celebrate Jennifer Crumbley's guilty verdict, the jury's decision could have a chilling effect on parents and gun ownership going forward. Even if Crumbley sets a new standard for criminal negligence related to a child's mass shooting, her conviction may set a new legal liability for parents. This could disproportionately impact lower-income families while not addressing the root causes of gun violence.
There's a 50% chance that there will be at least 1.40 small firearms per capita in the USA by 2029, according to the Metaculus prediction community.