Blood On Their Hands?*
Charging the Parents When Their Teen Commits Mass Murder
Fifteen-year-old Ethan Crumbley killed four people and injured another seven in a rampage at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan on November 30, 2021. His murder weapon was a semi-automatic handgun his dad had purchased for him a few days before, on Black Friday, as an early Christmas present from his parents. Michigan charged Ethan as an adult, and the next October he pleaded guilty to 24 criminal counts and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
This week a jury convicted his mother Jennifer of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the four deaths. This was the first time a jury has convicted a parent of involuntary manslaughter in the U.S. in connection with her child’s mass murder. Ethan’s father James is scheduled for trial next month on the same charges. Some of the evidence is discussed below.
The mother’s conviction raises some important questions:
· Is she being held to account for her son’s crimes under a form of vicarious responsibility?
· Is she being held responsible for her own acts and omissions?
· Will this conviction open the floodgates for similar charges when children commit mass murder as a means to strengthen gun safety inside the home, curtail…