The recent guilty sentence of Jennifer Crowley I find unacceptable. I’m sorry for the parents that lost their children in the deadly shooting at Oxford High School in 2021. Ethan Crowley (15yrs) was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The mother has now been found guilty by jury to 4 counts of involuntary manslaughter each with a 15 year sentence. Prosecutors accused her of being negligent in allowing her son to have a gun, and ignoring warnings signs.
There are many things that I find wrong with this situation. When I looked at some of the articles (I know they are not necessarily facts but hear me out) Jennifer stated that her husband took Ethan to buy the gun as a gift only days before the shooting and took him to a shooting range. (His trial is in March.) I’m not sure at what point that makes Jennifer guilty of allowing her son to have a gun. We live in a culture where domestic violence against women is rampant. Perhaps this woman had no say in the home? Perhaps the threat of violence that women inherently experience in culture silenced her. So is it acceptable to criminalise women who are silenced by society and culture?
At Ethan’s trial he said himself that he was accountable for his actions, that neither the school or his parents knew what he was about to do. Yet they found the mother guilty and the school has not been made accountable. The school called the parents in that morning concerned over a picture he had drawn and wanted them to take Ethan home. The parents apparently had to go to work and didn’t take him home. The school failed to check Ethan’s bag in which he had a gun. But neither the school or principle or teachers were charged. Weren’t they equally to blame? Then there is the accusation that the parents didn’t take responsibility and take Ethan home and went to work instead. So perhaps they needed money to survive? Is poverty or the threat of poverty a crime? We live in a society where we are made to survive paycheck to paycheck.
At Ethan’s trial, the defense pleaded for the opportunity for parole based on a claim of mental illness. The judge rejected this based on the child’s ability to plan and carry out his actions, therefore any claim of mental illness did not impede his actions. So how can they now accuse the mother of not getting him help when the judge deemed he was not mentally ill? I know mental illness is defined differently in legal, clinical and social definitions. But you can’t swap those definitions around to make them convenient for your case.
Then there is the issue of getting help for a child with behavioral or mental issues. Apart from the fact that it is near impossible to get appropriate help, no one seems to ask the question ‘Why are there so many children with behavioural and mental health issues?’ According to this court case (and others) it must be due to parents. All parents must be the cause. We know that can’t be the case yet we find it acceptable to put blame on some parents. Why isn’t anyone asking ‘What is happening in our society and culture that is manifesting in children’s behaviour and mental health?’
This neoliberal capitalist society has got us convinced that we the individual is responsible for how our life turns out. It has been instilled into us that failure to succeed in the dominant culture is an individual problem and must be addressed by individual treatment. Furthermore this system gives psychiatric disorders to situations that are normal responses to the stressors of life under neoliberal capitalism. If an individual is unsuccessful under the neoliberal order then it is viewed as an individual illness needing individual treatment rather than a problem with society itself. This allows the people in power to be absolved of any responsibilities for the social conditions and injustices that contribute to distress.
The people in power keep us pointing at each other rather than pointing up.
Lets not attack and blame each other for the horrors that this system of oppression puts us through and start pointing in the right direction – the powers that create policies under neoliberal capitalism.
There are many good resources to read/view on this. Here are some
Mental Health Challenges Related to Neoliberal Capitalism in the United States
