Parents' responsibility for kids' crimes

+ poor communities left in the dark longer after blackouts US Edition - Today's top story: Michigan mother convicted of manslaughter for school shootings by her son -- after buying him a gun and letting him keep it unsecured [View in browser]( US Edition | 7 February 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [Trump has no divine right of kings, court rules]( - [1 in 3 employees have faced bullying at work]( - [Even Super Bowl feasts are now partisan affairs]( Lead story It’s rare that parents are charged with crimes committed by their children. If they are, explains University of Dayton Law School professor Thaddeus Hoffmeister, the charges are usually for child abuse or neglect, or the failure to properly secure a firearm. But for the parents of Ethan Crumbley, who was recently sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing four students and wounding seven at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021, their roles apparently warranted an exception from past norms. They were both charged with involuntary manslaughter. And yesterday, a Michigan jury convicted Jennifer Crumbley, Ethan’s mother, for what a prosecutor described as “grossly negligent” and “egregious” behavior. For example, after learning her son was searching for ammo on his phone at school, she texted: “LOL I’m not mad. You have to learn not to get caught.” Her husband, James Crumbley, goes to trial in March. The decisions are “expected to have [far-reaching implications for the criminal responsibility of parents of mass shooters](,” Hoffmeister writes. He added that it may also help reduce children’s easy access to weapons, noting that 76% of the guns used in school shootings came from a parent or close relative. [ [Science from the scientists themselves. Sign up for our weekly science email newsletter.]( ] Howard Manly Race + Equity Editor Jennifer Crumbley enters the Michigan courtroom during her trial on involuntary manslaughter charges on Feb. 5, 2024. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images [Michigan mother convicted of manslaughter for school shootings by her son – after buying him a gun and letting him keep it unsecured]( Thaddeus Hoffmeister, University of Dayton Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty for a school shooting committed by her son; the father faces trial next. Health + Medicine - [About a third of employees have faced bullying at work – here’s how to recognize and deal with it]( Jason Walker, Adler University; Deborah Circo, University of Nebraska Omaha You’d call the police if a stranger in public did what many bullies at work get away with. Two researchers who study workplace violence describe the widespread phenomenon. 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