Prosecutors use existing laws in new ways to hold school shooter parents accountable
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Left to right: James Crumbley, Jennifer Crumbley and Colin Gray in court. Photos: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images and Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images
Prosecutors in Michigan and Georgia used tools that have long existed to hold parents accountable for actions that allegedly contributed to a school shooting.
The big picture: The parents' alleged negligence was central to charges in school shooting cases in both states, but it's unclear whether a precedent is now set for future mass shootings.
Context: This month, Georgia authorities charged the father of 14-year-old Colt Gray, who was arrested in connection with a school shooting that killed four people. The father, Colin Gray, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and cruelty to children.
- Earlier this year, James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of a convicted Michigan school shooter were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
State of play: Prosecutors may be more willing to bring charges like this in a climate where both gun owners and non-gun owners demand accountability, said Joshua Horwitz, co-director of Johns Hopkins' Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
- In both cases, prosecutors said the parents were negligent for providing their child with a firearm and ignoring signs of mental distress.
- "The parents are being held liable for their own acts," Horwitz said. "The harm is being committed by the children, but the parents — it's their own acts."
- A comparable example, he said, is parents being held liable for an underage drunk driver incident.
Zoom in: Both massacres involve a previously unseen "level of negligence," said Jaclyn Schildkraut, the executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
- In the future, prosecutors will continue to look at the totality of circumstances predating mass shootings, Schildkraut said.
- "If there are opportunities where parents can take an active role in preventing shootings, or at least not facilitating them, then they are certainly right to do that," she said.
Zoom out: Parents in other cases have faced civil challenges or other criminal charges not directly related to a shooting.
- A civil jury in Texas last month found that parents of a student accused of killing 10 people in Houston in 2018 were not negligent and did not bear financial responsibility.
- In Newport News, Virginia, the mother of a 6-year-old boy accused of shooting his first-grade teacher was sentenced last year to 21 months in prison for using marijuana while in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during purchase.
The bottom line: The Michigan charges and convictions were a precedent-setting, watershed moment for parental accountability in shootings, said Jeffrey Simon, an author and terrorism expert.
- "Whether or not this is going to be lasting and we see more down the road is just not clear yet," he said.
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