9 students charged with bullying that lead to a suicide

[AdminAssistant]

Fryk, I'm 97.6% certain that is either Socrates or Plato. (Or Aristotle???) It's one of the Greeks.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I hated teenagers back when I was a teenager. XD I wouldn't say that all teens are bad; just that there's now so many more ways for them to be arseholes with the internet and mobile phones. When I was being bullied, the bitches would leave nasty little notes in my desk, or in my bag with messages like, "You're an ugly whore" or "Go and kill yourself". Nowadays, bullies send text messages, or comment on the victim's Facebook page.

[Rapscallion]

http://askville.amazon.com/Socrates-...onseId=9194702

Rapscallion

[Fryk]

I'll have to do some research again tonight, but I read that although it was attributed to socrates by a newspaper in the 40s, it was equally likely that it came from egyptian sources.

[ditchdj]

Looks like one of the boys charged is now in even more trouble. This time for Driving While Intoxicated. I like one of the comments about how these girls were gonna fight over a loser like this. Sounds like this guy is a real fuckstick.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/reg...&position=also

[IDrinkaRum]

Journalist says there's more to case of Phoebe Price's bullies than what meets the eye.

Phoebe Price was a depressed, suicidal, cutting teenager in Ireland where she was bullied by teens there and was on antidepressent medication. Her mother informed the school where she was getting her education about her daughter's problems, but even though the school was informed, they still did nothing to help out.

So, is this article for the bullies & against Ms. Price? Or just a look at what was going on on the side of the bullies?

I say if the school did know about the problems Ms. Price was having and they still did nothing about it, they're still culpable (at least morally if not criminally) in Ms. Price's death. And as or the bullies? Just because she was already depressed and suicidal doesn't mean they should be off the hook. They were the last straw that was piled on the camel's back.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I believe that the point they're making is that she was already depressed, so anything could have driven her to suicide. Like for example, if she was dumped by a boyf and then killed herself, should the boyf be held responsible?

Suicide is ultimately the choice of the person who commits it. I'm not saying that the bullies shouldn't be punished, but there's no point in flinging murder accusations about, like some people are doing so about this case.

[Hobbs]

That's why there are different degrees of murder. I would see (at the highest) Murder 2 for the bullies, along with depraved indifference.

[Lace Neil Singer]

How far do you go with that train of thought? What if you gave someone a withering putdown, and the next day they committed suicide; would you be guilty of murder? If an employer didn't give a girl a job, and she committed suicide over it; is that employer guilty of murder? It seems to completely take personal responsibility off the person committing suicide, as well as taking the view that there is always someone to blame for suicide. If this girl was suffering from actual, clinical, depression, then suicide was always a possibility; the bullying could have just been the last straw.

[kibbles]

I agree Lace, there has to be a sense of personal responsibility somewhere along the line. But it seems as if that's old fashioned now.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Is it possible the bullying and social ostracizing that accompanies it was the CAUSE of her depression in the first place?

I am speaking from firsthand experience here. I started getting bullied in Grade 5. By grade 8, my worst year ever, it had extremely bad. I was beaten up more times than I can count, knocked down a flight of stairs (while on crutches to boot), had a jacket ripped off my body and subsequently cut into pieces.

And that's just for starters. The bullying began to bleed outside the school yard. I was harassed in a local park by kids from my school, the prank calls to my house were so bad we had to get our number changed and some more kids from school actually chased after our family vehicle when we stopped at a shopping mall in the area once.

My mom would drive me to school most days and she saw how I tensed up the moment I got in the car. I hated school, I hated my neighborhood, all I wanted to do was run as far away as I could as fast as I could. I wasn't on medication, but I damned sure was depressed (and I came extremely close to cutting myself too). I wouldn't doubt for a minute if this girl had experienced similar things. You don't know until you've lived it.

And for those of you asking where the school was in all of this? I don't have a fucking clue. My parents and I met with the Vice Principal FOUR separate times and nothing was done. In retrospect I probably should have gone to the police but that may have just made things worse.

Bullying is a serious problem without any realistic solution.

[Greenday]

the bullying could have just been the last straw.

So they shouldn't be charged for harassment and such? Cause they aren't being charged for murder.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Suicide is ultimately the choice of the person who commits it. I'm not saying that the bullies shouldn't be punished, but there's no point in flinging murder accusations about, like some people are doing so about this case.

Please read my post. I believe I said earlier on in the thread that charges of harrassment and, if viable, the statatory rape charge, are fair dues. They were bullying her, and therefore should be punished for that. But it's a slippery slope to charge them with murder. They did not kill her, therefore they are not guilty of murder.

Should the bullies who drove me to cut myself have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon? When I sliced thru my arteries, should they have been charged with attempted murder? Of course not. They were guilty of extreme unkindness, but in the end, the only person responsible for my cut arms and ankles was myself.

[Hobbs]

Please read my post. I believe I said earlier on in the thread that charges of harrassment and, if viable, the statatory rape charge, are fair dues. They were bullying her, and therefore should be punished for that. But it's a slippery slope to charge them with murder. They did not kill her, therefore they are not guilty of murder.

Should the bullies who drove me to cut myself have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon? When I sliced thru my arteries, should they have been charged with attempted murder? Of course not. They were guilty of extreme unkindness, but in the end, the only person responsible for my cut arms and ankles was myself.

Did they know you were a cutter/suicidal? If so, then their continued treatment towards you showed a depraved indifference to the psychological turmoil they knew bullying would cause. If you had died, I still think Murder in the Second Degree would count:

Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion" or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. Second-degree murder may best be viewed as the middle ground between first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

If that doesn't apply, Involuntary Manslaughter might:

Involuntary manslaughter usually refers to an unintentional killing that results from recklessness or criminal negligence, or from an unlawful act that is a misdemeanor or low-level felony (such as DUI). The usual distinction from voluntary manslaughter is that involuntary manslaughter (sometimes called "criminally negligent homicide") is a crime in which the victim's death is unintended

[crashhelmet]

I read another article similar to this the other day. It was linked off of MSN, but can't find it at the moment. The writer brought up a lot of good points about how she was already troubled and had issues, but I couldn't grasp how he found it justified the whole situation.

The impression I got form the article was that it would be perfectly fine for someone to go out and rape a prostitute or that I'm allowed to go and beat the shit out of all the douche-bag wannabe MMA fighters here in Vegas simply because they're fighters.

What about the case of the NFL player that hit and killed a jaywalker? Should he have been let off, regardless of his BAC level?

These kids set out and attacked a weak and defenseless girl who already had issues that they were well aware of. I agree that murder charges are too harsh. It should be involuntary manslaughter, in addition to harassment, and conspiracy charges.

CH