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Cyberbullying Causes Death

Cited: ABC News

A 15-year-old girl supposedly killed herself because of nine Massachusetts teenagers who have been charged with “unrelenting” bullying according to prosecutors on March 29.  Two other teenagers charged in this case were also charged with statutory rape

Phoebe Prince, a recent Irish immigrant, hanged herself Jan. 14 after nearly three months of routine torment by students at South Hadley High School, via text message, and through the social networking site, Facebook.

Prince, a freshman, was reportedly harassed by older girls who resented her dating an older football player. Her death shook the town of South Hadley and prompted the Massachusetts legislature to pass a law introducing an anti-bullying curriculum in the state’s public schools.

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said Prince’s bullying was the result of a romantic relationship she had with one of the male suspects that ended weeks prior to her suicide.

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Scheibel called Prince’s suicide “the culmination of a nearly three-month campaign of verbally assaultive behavior and threats of physical harm.” In at least one instance she was attacked when a girl pelted her with a soft drink can.

“The investigation revealed relentless activity directed toward Phoebe, designed to humiliate her and to make it impossible for her to remain at school,” Scheibel said. “The bullying, for her, became intolerable.”

“Nevertheless, the actions — or inactions — of some adults at the school are troublesome,” she said.

The district attorney said school administrators knew of the bullying but none would be charged.

Prince hanged herself in her home, days after accepting an invitation to a winter school dance and only months after emigrating to the small western Massachusetts town from Ireland. Her younger sister found Prince’s body in the stairwell leading to the family’s second-story apartment.

Six of the teens will be indicted on charges connected to Prince’s suicide. Three of the indicted students are girls, charged with violating Prince’s civil rights, criminal harassment and disturbing a school assembly.

Two of the indicted students, a 17-year-old male and an 18-year-old male, will also be charged with statutory rape. Criminal complaints were filed against three other students.  Of the six indicted students, three are still students at the school and three were expelled in February.

“These students’ lives have also been dramatically altered, and they won’t be graduating from South Hadley High School,” Principal Daniel T. Smith said at the time.

Prince Family Has Not Spoken Publicly

“What her family and friends from both sides of the Atlantic grieve is the loss of the incandescent enthusiasm of a life blossoming,” the notice read. “She enjoyed life with an energy only the young possess.”

This was written in a death notice it was printed in the Springfield Republican newspaper.  The family of Phoebe Prince has not spoken publicly about her suicide so far.

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My Take: I can tell you, from experience, that any kind of bullying is bad.  As a child, I was overweight and the kids were relentlessly teasing me in and out of school.  What is truly amazing is that even when I grew up, as a young adult, children and adults would still tease me.

Like any young girl, I tried to look pretty.  I even used natural beauty products.  However, this did not make any difference and the teasing would continue.  Finally, as a young adult, I learned to ignore the teasing.  Unfortunately for Phoebe, she was unable to ignore it and it got the best of her.  I believe this to be the fault of not just those teenage boys, but their parents as well.

I believe that the parents should be held responsible just as those teenage boys are.  And if the law had the same idea, the parents would need San Francisco CA criminal attorneys just as their sons do.  Teenage boys shouldn’t be charged with murder or statutory rape; they should be getting in trouble for driving under the influence or breaking city or state curfews.  Then they would only need a Riverside car accident attorney and not a criminal attorney.  And young teenage girls should only be worrying about eco friendly beauty products and not what everybody else thinks of them.

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Abuse

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