To be a parent is, in any number of ways, to accept responsibility for the growth, well-being and actions of the child in your charge. Parents found negligent in that respect can face any number of consequences: fines, community service, legally-mandated adult education courses and — in some extreme cases — the loss of custody entirely. It’s a structure predicated on the notion that parents are obligated to ensure their children are meeting a basic standard of care, and any failure thereof is fundamentally harmful to the child themself.
But what happens when that paradigm shifts, and a parent is called to task not for any alleged failures toward their own child, but for their child’s actions against someone else?
Last week, 54-year-old Colin Gray was arrested and charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder after his son Colt, 14, allegedly shot and killed four people at Apalachee High School in Winder, GA. While the elder Gray is not the first parent to face criminal charges for a school shooting carried out by their child, his are the “most severe charges ever filed against the parent of an alleged school shooter,” The Washington Post said. As such, Gray’s case has reopened a broader debate: Should guardians be held responsible when their children commit horrific acts of mass violence?
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