and if the husband is a brutal wife beater who becomes a mass murderer...is the wife criminally negligent because she never told the cops he was mean?
folks always look for a way to blame the man when a woman snaps......if one is available....like it's not fair to hold her responsoble for her own actions....
however...yes....he should have seen something was wrong...no question but how many folks think a breakdown will result in 5 murders of babies
and yes....if you go upthread you will indeed find someone saying he was just as culpable if not more so...Katie Beaver-logic.
"and if the husband is a brutal wife beater who becomes a mass murderer...is the wife criminally negligent because she never told the cops he was mean?"
Not under the law, because you have no general legal duty to take affirmative steps to protect the public.
As a parent, however, you DO have an affirmative duty to protect your children.
(To give the classic example, LEGALLY, one can walk by a drowning stranger and do nothing (assuming you did not put him in the pool, the pool is not yours, or you're not the lifeguard, etc). However, if it is your child, you ARE responsible, and must make all reasonable efforts to save the child.)
Here, it's undisputed she was nuts. She had been in the looney bin several times because she was a "danger to herself and others." He knew this. He knew she was going downhill, and yet left his kids with her.
That's criminally negligent, just like leaving your daughter with a known sex offender or something similar.