“Ethan Crumbley will be sentenced in a hearing Friday for killing four students and wounding seven others when he opened fire at Oxford High School in Michigan in November 2021. Live news updates.”
Keep in mind he was god damn 15.
That kid should be given help, not just dumped into a prison.
I hate the American “justice” system. All this will lead to us for Ethan to become more dysfunctional and become more of a danger to society once he is out of juvenile. Because of fucking course mental care apparently doesn’t exist.
Keep in mind he was god damn 15.
he was 15, and made a sophisticated plan to both murder innocents AND surrender himself so he could maximize the amount of time taking in his victim’s suffering.
That kid should be given help
I’m not convinced there’s any helping this psychopath.
He killed four of his classmates and wounded seven others. 15 years old is old enough to know how terrible the impact of his actions would be. There is certainly more that we as a society could have done to help him with his mental illness, but that does not erase his agency and make him not responsible for his crimes. He has more than earned his punishment.
Did he have much agency in this case? He texted his mother about hearing demons and ghosts and she did nothing. He kept a baby bird’s head in a jar and tortured other animals and his parents sought no help for him. Instead, they bought him a fucking gun. He very clearly has some form of schizophrenia and/or sociopathy. When the obvious signs are there and the people responsible for him (his parents) actually enable his violent tendencies, can we really be surprised that he acted them out?
What does the punishment accomplish, in your view?
Also, what would you say is the age cut off, roughly, where kids who commit crimes are not fully responsible for their actions?
Punishment, in this case, is used to attempt to dissuade others who would try to replicate his actions. It’s not going to work for a lot of people but it will for some. On the flip-side, one could argue that if he was helped by the authorities after his incident then some may see replicating it as a path to their own healing process… Pretty fucked up. I still think it would be better for society if this person was sentenced to the help they needed to reenter society as a functioning and contributing citizen.
As for your second question, I don’t think there is one straight answer for that or at least I’ve never heard a satisfying one.
He does need mental health care, but he also needs punishment for taking the lives of 4 people. There is no way at 15, someone is unaware that killing 4 people is bad, and should be redeemed of any wrongdoing. Nope. At that age in the U.S., you already have a permit to drive. I agree he needs major help, but he shouldn’t get to stay in a psych unit for the murder of 4 people. He knowingly and brutally stole the most valuable thing they had, their only chance at life. There must be consequences.
You assume that someone taught him right from wrong. Seeing as his parents are also being charged that is not a given.
You can’t seriously suggest that as he gunned down his classmates he was wondering “I wonder if I’ll get in trouble for this.”
That excuse only works for toddlers who discharge their parent’s firearm. Every 15 year old knows that murder is wrong. If his parents forgot to tell him, he would’ve learned in kindergarten. During his active shooter drills.
I speculate he was probably neglected emotionally at a minimum, possibly abused on top of some other issue or issues. That level of rage and violence usually doesn’t come out of nowhere. There may be genetic predispositions involved. The thing is, I don’t think we have a clear enough picture of the causes. It’s difficult since often shooters take their own lives.
Edited to add:
Asked what is different for Crumbley since the shooting two years ago, Loftin said things like "medication, seeing a therapist, having positive adults in his life” were all part of the change that has begun for him.
I think our society fucking sucks. We would rather let a kid destroy lives, then destroy his in retribution than lift a fucking finger to help anywhere along the way.
more of a danger to society once he is out
Don’t worry about that. He’s not getting out.
I think it’s obvious that his parents were mentally damaged and traumatized the boy, nevermind the neglect and tacit encouragement at the end.
Everyone is so hell bent on retribution, no matter the cost. What we want is someone who won’t assault or murder others, owns their actions, and repays society to whatever degree possible - zero of those things are developed in prison.
It is pretty obvious he is psychotic and his parents did less than nothing to help by ignoring his violent tendencies and even buying him the fucking gun.
Negligence? No.
His parents are now being prosecuted for manslaughter.
He’s probably getting life. The judge said no parole was possible, but that does seem extreme for a 15 year old. He absolutely needed help, and his parents likely just caused further harm, fortunately they are also facing charges.
This is a tragedy on every end. I hope those parents face punishment.
A god damn 15 year old CHILD shouldn’t get prison for life and only a psychopath would think so.
Having a child around that age reminds me just how much of a child someone at that age is.
Child needs to be shouted more.
His actions have no excuse regardless but no amount of punishment makes what happened better, keep him locked up whatever but please get him help too.
It’s definitely a weird spot to discuss.
There was a guy who talked about how he was almost a school shooter and was stopped and he discussed his perspective on being a mentality ill teen with access to firearms. People were so fucking vile to that guy, loads of harassment and people say he deserves prison and telling him to kill himself.
So instead of trying to utilize this person, who wasn’t a mass murder, and gain an inside look into what it’s like for this kids, the world would rather just shit all over them, even when they shoot a grand total of 0 people.
I get for some it’s a tough talk, but the fact that we aren’t is a huge part of the problem to begin with.
Maybe the kid had issues mentally.
But we should NOT be hearing news about 15 year old kids killing other kids in a society.
That is 15 years of failure in upbringing. Failure of society. Failure of culture.
