On Sept. 4, 2024, 14-year-old Colt Gray killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School. Gray was charged with four counts of first-degree murder along with his father, Colin Gray, who is now facing up to 180 years in prison for the shooting.
Though the most recent, this isn’t the only incident where the parents of minors have been charged for the crimes of their children.
On April 9, 2024, the parents of Ethan Crumbley were sentenced to 10 years in prison over the 2021 school shooting where Crumbley killed 4 students. The case was a landmark, as they were the first parents to have been convicted of a school shooting alongside their child.
With the Apalachee High School shooting being the most recent example of this phenomenon, we have to consider that parents should be punished for the violent crimes of their children.
For a better understanding, we must look at the actions of the parents leading up to the crime. In the case of Gray, recent testimony has shown that he was abused verbally by his father and grandparents.
Gray’s maternal grandfather, Charles Polhamus, told reporters, “His dad beat up on him, I mean, I’m not talking about physical, but screaming and hollering, and he did the same thing to my daughter.”
The abuse of a child can severely affect their behavioral development. For Gray, family members allege that his father wanted him to “toughen up.” The abuse from his father may have made him equate violence with manhood, further motivating him to commit the shooting.
While being a major factor, even if the child isn’t abused by their parents, the provision of the weapon is an important factor to consider.
In the case of Gray, his father gave him the gun as a gift for Christmas. This happened only months after Gray was flagged by the FBI for making threats of violence found on a discord count connected to him.
For Crumbley, it was the same, as the gun was described as an “early Christmas gift.”
The parents of these children are providing weapons to them despite knowing they are already vulnerable. The parents are aiding their children in committing violent acts by giving them access to dangerous items.
The argument concerning parental responsibility extends to parents who aren’t aware of their child’s actions. In 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse killed 2 people during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He originally faced 5 different felony charges but was later acquitted of them all.
While his parents weren’t directly involved in the incident, the environment that Rittenhouse grew up in may have led to this behavior.
The values instilled in a child’s household will carry over into their belief system. Political affiliation, religious beliefs, and attitudes towards certain groups are all important factors that affect the development of a child’s beliefs. If the values instilled are often associated with negative ideas, the development of those beliefs will often be negative.
Parental neglect should also be a factor when considering the child’s actions. As parents, there is a responsibility to know or at least actively try to determine what their children are doing and feeling.
Rittenhouse’s parents didn’t know that he was going to the protest armed. Ethan Crumbley’s parents ignored signs that their child was distressed. These tragedies might not have occurred had these parents intervened.
More intervention concerning parental responsibility needs to be done to prevent tragic violent attacks. While the children are still at fault, they do not act alone.
Parents should be punished for their children’s violent crimes.
