Jury foreperson in Jennifer Crumbley case says the mother failed to 'secure' the gun used in the mass shooting from her son

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to News@lemmy.world – 231 points –
Jury foreperson in Jennifer Crumbley case says the mother failed to 'secure' the gun used in the mass shooting from her son
nbcnews.com

Jennifer Crumbley, 45, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deadly school shooting carried out by her then-15-year-old son in 2021.

[…]

In the trial, Jennifer Crumbley testified that while “I don’t think I’m a failure as a parent” and “wouldn’t have” done anything differently in how she parented her son, she felt regret for what he did.

It's about time a parent is held responsible. Maybe this will finally start moving a needle.

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More than one person can be responsible for a crime. A burgler might have been the one to break and enter but the accomplice could still have been culpable of staking the house and driving the getaway car.

Well yes. But you have a child that did a heinous thing. We say this kid actually has enough moral culpability and responsibility to be tried as an adult and receive life in prison. Then in the other trial you argue that this mother is culpable because the child actually is a child, and an adult needs to responsible? The rationale of manslaughter was based on the mother being the last adult with the gun, right? That seems contradictory and if we want to blame the mother, the kid should be tried as kid.

Eh, if the child was an adult and they were strangers to each other, I'd still say that the gun owner was culpable for not securing their gun properly. If you own a weapon, it's your responsibility to know where it is and what it's doing at any time

"For me, I just feel like Jennifer didn’t separate her son from the gun enough to save those lives that day."

I don't think jury's would use that logic if the son was full grown adult.

We don't need to focus on the details here. If they were strangers, the jury would say something to the effect of, 'Jennifer failed to prevent undue access to her gun' or 'negligently permitted a stranger to have access to her gun'. Ultimately, if it's her gun, she needs to be in control of it, regardless of the circumstances

So both parents should get full manslaughter charges? If the father was the one that purchased the gun is he more responsible than the mother? I find it weird that liberal folks generally are very anti-prison industrial complex, but for certain issues like this it seems we want to jail as many people as possible and dupliclate or triplicate blame of responsibility across as many people as possible for 1 person;s, who is tried as an adults, actions.

Either or both parent could be responsible depending on the circumstances. Was dad working away and doesn't own any guns? Not his responsibility. Does mum have 3 guns but all of them were locked away according to strict safety regulations and the child accessed a gun from somewhere else? Also not responsible. Did uncle give the child a gun and tell him to go nuts? Very responsible. Circumstances, and levels of culpability, can vary. If both parents own guns, didn't secure them properly and failed to monitor or restrict the child's concerning behaviours then yes, they're both equally culpable.

I don't really identify as liberal and not sure what that's got to do with anything. But regardless, if somebody's willful negligence leads to multiple deaths then yes, they should be held accountable.

I understand that point. But if those are things we as society want to pursue for legal justice, how can we try the child as an adult?