There are two arrests in Florida after the suicide of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick (left) who was bullied on the Internet, including at least one mocking posting by one of the girls after the suicide. The two girls (aged 14 and 12) have been charged with felonies.
One of the suspects went to the same school with Sedwick and had been dating Sedwick’s former boyfriend. The boyfriend has since gone public to criticize the two girls. The other girl was once Sedwick’s best friend. The older suspect allegedly organized other kids to hound and abuse Sedwick. Up to 15 kids harassed Sedwick. Comments ranged from “drink bleach and die” to “You should die” and “why don’t you go kill yourself?” According to reports, the night before Rebecca killed herself, she messaged a friend that, “I’m jumping. I can’t take it anymore.”
One of the girls went to Facebook after the suicide to say that she didn’t care about the suicide. Police say that, despite being contacted in the case, the parents continued to allow their girls to use Facebook. The girls, ages 12 and 14, have been charged with felony aggravated stalking. The father of the 14-year-old told media that his daughter was “a good girl” and he was “100 percent sure that whatever they’re saying about my daughter is not true.” The prosecutor has said that he would arrest the parents if he could. The question is whether the parents of the victim will sue the parents of the suspects in torts as a civil matter.
The charges for some will renew the anger over the lack of any conviction for Lori Drew who pushed a young girl to suicide by tricking her on the Internet into believing there was a young boy in love with her and then dumped her.
This case also raises an interesting question of journalistic ethics. While other sites have released the photos and names of the girls (since the prosecutor did so as individuals charged with felonies), other sites have withheld the information due to their age. The question is whether, in light of the public release of the names and mugshots by the prosecutors, the information should be made available to readers or censored out of this and other sites. It is an ironic protection given the accusation against the girls of organizing a group of girls to hound Rebecca. Yet, these are very young girls who are normally protected from public disclosures in criminal cases.
What do you think?
I’ve written here before that I was bullied throughout my school years up until the middle of my Junior year in High School. The bullying was both taunting and and physical. There were days that I feared going to school and I averaged about 40 absences a year from being “ill”. Back then many of the “bullies” were coddled by teachers. The memories are quite unpleasant and it has kindled a hatred in me for bullies of all kinds.
I wrote the above because my feeling about this prosecution is that it is specious. These girls behavior was horrific and I would be in favor of publishing their names as punishment. I would even be in favor of a tort action by Rebecca’s parents. However, a criminal felony charge is over the top and sets an unfortunate precedent that will impact on free speech in unforeseen ways. All bad deeds are not necessarily punished by criminal law. All tragedies cannot have a satisfying resolution. This is the case here.
Yeah, I’m with Mike.
Sociopaths, and their idiotic parents that they no doubt learned this behavior from (or at minimum the tacit approval of it), should be permanently removed from society. Very little evidence that people ever grow out of this behavior. Blaming it on adolescence is short sited. Those that do are the exception that prove the rule that these kids will be sociopaths for the remainder of their lives and should be removed from society.
Juliet N. 1, October 17, 2013 at 11:41 am
Having lived in having lived in seven different states — two of them in the northeast — and two different countries, I can state with authority that there are a$$hats everywhere.
=======================
“Oh my name it is nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I’s taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that the land that I live in
Has God on its side”
– B.Dylan, “With God on Our Side” 😉
nick spinelli 1, October 17, 2013 at 10:41 am
Technology is a much bigger problem.
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So, people don’t kill,
gunstechnology does?Agree totally. Just bustin’ lady balls. I kinda like Kentucky. And profanity will get through often times. It’s that Shakespeare that’s the problem.
Nice, Dredd!
Nick: Oh, don’t get me wrong — we’re a bunch of troglodytes, but there are trogs everywhere.
(Edited profanity to pass through the vortex of doom.) – (Juliet N.)
lol
47% in Kentucky. You asshats just started walking upright.
Having lived in having lived in seven different states — two of them in the northeast — and two different countries, I can state with authority that there are a$$hats everywhere.
I don’t think the world is horrible, I just think about 47% of the folks in this country have become a nasty bunch of sociopaths.
(Edited profanity to pass through the vortex of doom.)
I don’t think the world is horrible. I just think about 47% of the folks in this country have become a nasty bunch of sociopath a**holes.
I’m talking w/ kids! This is when they are learning, or supposed to be learning, about how their words, actions, etc. have consequences. Kids learn MUCH more from their peers than from their family. If they don’t learn form interaction w/ their peers the hurt that is caused, they won’t ever learn. That callousness will be set in stone. This is basic child development psychology that LouisCK put in a superb riff, YouTube it. I know your thinking the world is horrible, and indeed it indeed can be. But, this problem is different, it is much more fundamental and dangerous.
Technology is a much bigger problem. There have always been callous parents. They learn through interaction on a human level that it’s much more difficult to be callous, mean, etc. They’re not getting that human reaction to what they say. The other stuff has been going on for millennia.
I disagree. There were a few bullies, but the complete lack of civility that pervades our culture is recent. No doubt, technology contributes to it, but it’s not the cause.
Children are learning their callous disregard from their parents and our society. When children hear people calling the poor, elderly and disabled “parasites” and “takers,” how else would they be expected to behave?
Humpin’ Dog, that is kinda what LouisCK was talking about.
LouisCK did a brilliant riff on this type of bullying. How iPhones and the ubiquity of being able to communicate in so many ways but face to face means that kids don’t learn empathy. When you say something mean to a another kid you see the hurt reaction. Now, narcissists don’t see it but the vast majority of kids see the hurt caused and change their behavior. I walk through the UC campus. The students are walking alongside other students and not talking, they’re texting. Clockwork Orange precursor.
Generally bullies need to be beaten up by people their own age or younger. The best people on Earth are those who take on bullies. Dogs do not put up with bully dogs. Some of us hump other dogs, male or female, but that is not bullying.
The parents utter oblivion to the reality of their children’s behavior makes it clear, at least to me, why they have behaved the way they did (and do). Sad, all around.
Could this case create unintended consequences in Freedom of Speech cases? Traditionally the courts have placed the burden of responsibility on the “listener” not the “speaker” even in near incitement cases.
Ex: Rush Limbaugh or Michael Moore are not held responsible for what a “listener” may do except in clear cases of incitement to violence, etc. where the speaker commands a listener to act (not hints or insinuations, etc).
As tragic as this case is, could the remedy be worse than the ailment? Should the government be regulating politeness? Who judges what that means?
This is a horrible, senseless tragedy. My heart goes out to the families of all involved. We need to be looking at where kids who bully learn it and why they do it. Treating the symptom instead of the cause is never a cure.
I have no problem with minors who are alleged to have committed a crime to not have their names released. However, I have been following this story and the Facebook comments by one of the alleged perps is disturbing. Do these parents actually read what their kids are doing on Facebook and other sites?
Reblogged this on ChildreninPrison.