Jailing Ethan Crumbley’s Parents Sets a Troubling Precedent
Locking up irresponsible parents seems just, but the truth is more complicated.
By Abigail Shrier / April 18, 2024 12:51 pm ET
Photo: Mandi Wright/USA Today Network/REUTERS; Clarence Tabb Jr./Press Pool
When a Michigan jury sentenced James and Jennifer Crumbley last week to 10 to 15 years in prison for murders committed by their son, my first thought was: Good riddance. In 2021, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley had sprayed bullets down the halls of his high school north of Detroit, killing four classmates and injuring seven more. The punishment for his parents seemed harsh, but I reserved my sympathy for the innocents he had killed, not the derelicts who’d raised him.
Now I wonder if this case represents a worrisome precedent. The Crumbleys appear to be the first parents in the U.S. ever to face criminal homicide charges for a school shooting committed by their child. They are being punished for buying their troubled teen a SIG Sauer 9-millimeter handgun, failing to secure it and ignoring all the signs of his emotional instability. “While the shooter was the one who entered the high school and pulled the trigger,” prosecutor Karen McDonald argued in a 2021 news conference, “there are other individuals who contributed to the events…and it’s my intention to hold them accountable as well.”
Whether or not the Crumbley incarcerations are justified, is the entire principle of holding parents liable for the criminal misconduct of their minor children wrong-headed? If so, then aren't minor children a get-out-of-jail-free card for their parents?