In a Belgrade courtroom this morning, a verdict was read that has sent ripples through the international community. The parents of a 14-year-old boy who shot dead nine fellow students and a security guard at his school in 2023 were found guilty of criminal negligence and sentenced to prison. The mother received three years, the father two and a half years. This retrial, prompted by public outcry over the initial leniency, marks a pivotal moment in how societies assign responsibility for the actions of minors. But what does this mean for parents in Britain, where the Prime Minister has already called for a global summit on school safety?
For the families of the victims, justice has been a long time coming. The shootings, which occurred at the Vladislav Ribnikar primary school in central Belgrade, shocked a nation unaccustomed to such violence. Yet as the gavel fell, the focus shifted from the tragedy itself to the conditions that allowed it to happen. The parents were convicted for leaving a firearm accessible and failing to provide adequate supervision. It is a chilling reminder that school shootings are not solely about the perpetrator; they are about the systems of neglect that precede them.
In the UK, the response has been swift. Downing Street has announced its intention to push for international standards on school safety, citing the Serbian case as evidence that no country is immune to this scourge. But as a society columnist who has watched the cultural shift around parenting and safety for years, I cannot help but wonder: what does this mean for the parent who buys a gun cabinet but fails to lock it? For the mother who misplaces the key? The criminalisation of negligence is an uncomfortable but necessary conversation.
On the streets of Belgrade, opinions are divided. I spoke with Mila, a grandmother whose grandson survived the attack by hiding in a cupboard. “They should have known better,” she told me. “If you own a gun, you own its consequences.” Others, like Marko, a father of two, worry about the chilling effect on families. “What next? Jail for letting your child play near a road?” he asked.
Yet the data is stark. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 130 school shootings in the United States alone in the last three years. In Europe, the numbers are lower but rising. The Serbian case is a test of how far liability can extend. In the UK, where private gun ownership is low but knife crime is high, the conversation must adapt. The Prime Minister’s call for global safety standards is admirable, but it must consider the human cost: the parents who are themselves victims of a culture that normalises violence.
As I write this, the sun sets over London. In schools across the city, teachers are conducting lockdown drills. Parents are checking their children’s bags. The parents of Belgrade are going to prison. And somewhere, a teenager is planning their revenge. The question is not whether we can prevent every shooting, but how we choose to respond when they happen. The Serbian retrial offers a blueprint, but also a warning: blame is a blunt instrument. What we need is a scalpel, to dissect the social conditions that breed violence. Only then can we truly ensure that no parent has to face this verdict again.
