In addition to my post from yesterday about Jennifer Crumbley’s manslaughter conviction, and my four previous posts on the case that I linked there, I want to add a few things.
The first is that I believe that if their son Ethan Crumbley had murdered the same people at the school with a knife, the Crumbleys would never have been charged. This case is a roundabout way to get at more gun control or at least to intimidate gun owners.
The second is that this verdict should strike fear into the heart of every parent. There’s a potentially slippery slope here.
The third is this:
For more than two years [the parents] have been kept in a county jail, unable to make bail.
That’s quite something.
The fourth is this:
Stephen J Morse, a professor of law and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, said he disagreed with the verdict, arguing that because Ethan Crumbley had pleaded guilty, he was the only one responsible for the shooting.
“I understand that she was not necessarily the best mother in the world, but this is not a crime,” he said.
Mr Morse said he believed the decision could set a bad precedent, causing courts to look for “scapegoats” in similar situations.
Ya think?
The fifth is this:
Others say this case was so unusual that it is unlikely to have wider ramifications.
“I don’t fear that this is going to open the floodgates to parents being charged in a run of the mill case, if there is such a thing,” said Frank Vandervort, a University of Michigan clinical professor of law.
No, of course it won’t be “run of the mill parents” who are charged. But in these school shooter situations, there are often warning signs that go unheeded, or that are not dealt with properly. Hindsight is 20/20, and as I said before, these particular parents don’t seem to have exercised good judgment. But they are not guilty of any crime. And finding them guilty of a crime opens the door to the state using the precedent and the tool as it sees fit, in particular to punish parents who might espouse positions it doesn’t like.
And then we have the sixth, which is pretty obvious but needs to be stated nevertheless:
Families of the victims have expressed frustration that school officials have not faced the same legal consequences as Mr and Ms Crumbley.
“Why isn’t the system allowing the people to decide when it comes to the failures at the school?” Mr Myre told the BBC on Tuesday after the verdict.
“Is our government under a different set of rules?”
The answer is: YES.
I wrote earlier that the school system had an enormous responsibility – and supposed expertise, unlike the parents – which it shirked. But no, I don’t think they should be held criminally responsible, either. Civilly responsible perhaps; but not criminally.
