Abstract
In 2021, James and Jennifer Crumbley became the first parents in the United States to be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with their son’s school shooting that killed four people and injured multiple others. As school shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, prosecutors are increasingly holding parents criminally liable for their children’s actions. This development raises fundamental questions about justice, accountability, and the limits of criminal liability. While these laws aim to curb gun violence by enforcing parental accountability, they will disproportionately affect marginalized communities, particularly along gender, racial, and socioeconomic lines. As legal precedent expands, parental criminal liability is likely to extend beyond school shootings to other juvenile crimes, further complicating the balance between accountability and fairness in the justice system. This Note examines the historical evolution of parental responsibility laws in the U.S. in the wake of school shootings, their disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, and the questions they raise about justice and accountability. It ultimately argues that while accountability is important, criminalizing parents risks deepening systemic inequalities without addressing the root causes of juvenile violence.
Recommended Citation
Makayla R. Foust,
Bad Parenting on Trial: How Gender, Race, and Class Shape Parental Responsibility Prosecutions and Laws for School Shootings,
32 Wash. & Lee J. Civ. Rts. & Soc. Just. 277
(2026).
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol32/iss1/7
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