Are parents liable for kids’ crimes?

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Her granddaughter has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the vicious swarming of Kenneth Lee, and she was guffawing during a court break while playing a game of Candy Crush.

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It was jarring — coming such a short time after emotional victim impact statements were read by Lee’s brother-in-law and then disturbing security footage was played in the youth court showing her granddaughter, 14 at the time, shortly after midnight on Dec. 18, 2022, as she enthusiastically hit, spit at and stomped on the battered homeless man.

At just 14, how had her guardian allowed her to be out so late at night with a group of eight girls she barely knew, drinking alcohol and smoking pot? Even now, even after watching the horrific video, she insisted angrily to a Toronto Sun columnist that her granddaughter was “innocent.”

These kids were running wild; surely there were obvious warning signs that these girls were troubled and needed help. Who was looking after them?

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In some way, should this clueless grandma — and the parents and guardians of the other two girls who have pleaded guilty to manslaughter — also be held accountable?

Ontario does have the Parental Responsibility Act which came into effect in 2000 and allows victims of theft or property damage to sue the parents of a minor in Small Claims Court for their damages caused by their children.

Should they also be on the hook if their kids are guilty of something far worse than egging a house or shoplifting? How tempting that seems, at least at first blush.

It’s certainly being done in the U.S. where “punish the parents” laws are being tapped more than ever, especially when it comes to dealing with the scourge of school shootings.

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In Georgia on Friday, a father and son appeared at different times in the same courtroom — both charged in connection with a shooting earlier this week, though it was 14-year-old Colt Gray who is alleged to have pulled the trigger, killing two fellow students and two teachers at his high school outside Atlanta.

But police say it was his dad who gave him the AR-style rifle for Christmas.

In 2023, authorities even went after the father of an alleged mass shooter who was 21 — and not underage at all. Robert Crimo Jr., who’s son allegedly killed seven at Chicago’s Highland Park parade in 2022 — was sentenced to 60 days for helping his son acquire a firearm owner’s identification card, despite red flags.

Earlier this year, James and Jennifer Crumbley were convicted on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the Michigan high school students their 15-year-old son murdered in 2021, and were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison. Prosecutors successfully argued that they’d ignored signs their son was seriously troubled and bought him a powerful 9mm handgun as an early Christmas present.

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But despite the headlines, Judge Cheryl Matthews said the stiff sentences weren’t a message to other parents or prosecutors that they should hold families responsible for children’s crimes.

“These convictions are not about poor parenting. These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train. About repeatedly ignoring things that would make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of their neck stand up,” Matthews said.

In an article written for Time this year, Northeastern University professor Victoria Cain argues that there’s no proof that “punish the parents” laws prevent youth crime.

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“Blaming individual parents for children’s crimes lets communities ignore more difficult and divisive tasks: eliminating poverty, curbing child abuse, providing mental health care, and limiting children’s access to guns.”

Critics of such laws say parents of troubled children are often troubled themselves or at a loss when it comes to controlling their unruly teenager — especially when mental health resources for adolescents in this province are incredibly difficult to find.

The judge presiding over the swarming girl’s hearing said as much this week: “She seems to be slipping through the cracks all the way along,” observed Justice David Rose.

So what would be gained by charging someone like this grandma, who is muttering under her breath and certainly seems to have issues of her own?

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