When children commit crimes, who gets charged? Parents or kids?

Yesterday, in a courtroom in Pontiac, Michigan, Jennifer and James Crumbley were each sentenced to prison for failing to prevent their son from killing four students in a 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School. Legal experts say it is the first time that parents of minors who commit murder have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and it could serve as a model for other cases around the country. In Maryland on Sunday morning, Howard County Police arrested five teenagers and charged them with armed robbery and carjacking. And last week, in Baltimore, City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates announced the arrests of 20 juveniles he says are responsible for 53 crimes over a period of several months, including armed carjacking, armed robbery, and assault. Bates stressed that his office will hold parents accountable for the illegal actions of their young children. Bates said, “If you are found to be contributing to the delinquency of a minor child, my office will look to charge you.” Today, we explore the view of many who work in the field of child welfare. Two leaders of the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts at the University of Baltimore School of Law join the show. Aubrey Edwards-Luce is the Center’s Executive Director and Shanta Trivedi is an Assistant Professor of Law and the Center’s Faculty Director. (Julio Cortez/AP)Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.