Parents Own Some Responsibility for Actions of their Kids

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

A few months ago I shared some thoughts in this space on the subject of parental responsibility, particularly as it applied to James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of 15-year-old school-shooter Ethan Crumbley who brought an automatic weapon that his parents had purchased for him to his high school in Oxford, Michigan, and murdered four of his classmates. Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and his parents were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and received 10-to-15-year prison sentences.  Parents were finally being held accountable for the actions of their spawn.  It was a bold move forward by the American legal system.

Today I read about another case in which a child died due to, at least in part, negligent behavior on the part of another child's parents.

An unidentified 16-year-old boy from the Borough of Queens in New York City was out driving his parents high-performance BMW last year, apparently with the parents' knowledge and permission, when he wrecked the car and killed his 14-year-old female passenger.

But there is more to the story than that.

First of all the boy was not a fully-licensed driver.  News reports said that he had a "junior" driver's license and was only supposed to be driving with a supervising fully-licensed driver in the vehicle with him.  Second, he had a history of driving without being properly licensed, and school administrators were so concerned that they bad contacted his parents and told them that he should not be driving.  And third, during the same month that the school had contacted his parents, the boy was ticketed for driving without a license and for using a portable electronic device while driving.

The wreck itself in which the girl was killed was no ordinary fender-bender.  The teen driver was reportedly doing 100 mph in a 30 mph speed zone when his vehicle spun out of control and slammed into a UPS tractor-trailer.   The 14-year-old girl was thrown from the car and killed, the UPS driver was injured, the car was nearly split in half, and the 16-year-old driver walked away with minor injuries.

The driver, a minor, is facing multiple charges including 2nd degree manslaughter and faces up to 15 years in prison.     His parents, who according to news reports "frequently" allowed the boy to use their high-performance vehicle, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and were sentenced to three years of probation and twenty-six weeks of parenting classes.   

Children are not born monsters.  Much of who they become is taught and shaped by others, and parents are usually their first and most significant teachers and role models.  Kudos to the courts for finally beginning to give some credit where credit is due.