Thread: 15yr old commits suicide over cyber-bullying

That's terrible Jenefer. Were you able to get a restraining order against that "girl"? If its too personal please tell me but what's the girl's excuse for doing that to your daughter?
My 16 year old is dealing with something like that. He was friends with a girl and her new boyfriend didn't like it,he forbade her to talk to my son and he told my son he would kill him if he caught them talking. He sent emails,stuck notes in his locker,put together a torture list of what he will do to my son on his FB and MySpace(my son isnt on his FB or MS,someone informed the school and they informed me),tried shoving him down the stairs at school. When this boy gets caught cutting on himself,he tells anyone that will listen it is my son's fault. The school has suspended him twice,we have a restraining order and so far so good. If it starts up again,I will deal with it myself,this kid will be 18 in 2 weeks.

just don't get why people deal with it. Delete the idiot from your friends list, block them, why keep coming back for more bullying. There are those people that commit suicide because they feel they don't belong then look at those that walk away from the situation with their head held high and go on with life. I feel for those that take care of a temporary situation with a permanent solution.

Trust me, I've been through this with my 1st husband , he committed suicide because I wanted a divorce, he felt unwanted and it's all my fault? No, he had problems that he could not deal with on his own and look what he went and did, took care of a temporary situation with a permanent solution.

But he was an adult and clearly had other issues.

Teenageers tend to see things an black and white absolutes - more and more have "entitlements issues" and think the world revolves around them... because they are - by definition - immature.

Do we need to teach some kids to "buck up" - this too shall pass... yeah.

Do we need to teach some kids that assine behavior is NOT acceptable - online, in person or otherwise ... absolutley !!

I don't think that being VUNERABLE is the same as being "weak" ...

Jen - sorry your family had to go thru this...

You acting like this is exactly what you are accusing others of doing. I never directed a thing towards you but I did state my own opinion and the last I checked this was a free country. This is the very reason I stopped coming here for several months, due to the fact that you and others are 'bully's'.

Originally Posted by Jenefer3

Well, I hope you never have to be in the shoes of those parents. And until you are, why don't you just STFU?

And BTW, I am a parent of two children whom I have to raise and them knowing how their father died, so I can have any opinion I want about this situation.

9 charged with bullying Mass. teen who killed self
Stephanie Reitz, Associated Press Writer – 38 mins ago

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Nine teens have been charged in the "unrelenting" bullying of a teenage girl from Ireland who killed herself after being raped and enduring months of torment by classmates in person and online, a prosecutor said Monday.

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley was stalked and harassed nearly constantly from September until she killed herself Jan. 14. The freshman had recently moved to western Massachusetts from Ireland.

"The investigation revealed relentless activities directed toward Phoebe to make it impossible for her to stay at school. The bullying for her was intolerable," Scheibel said.

Six teens — four girls and two boys — face charges including statutory rape, assault, violation of civil rights resulting in injury, criminal harassment, disturbance of a school assembly and stalking. Three younger girls face delinquency charges.

Scheibel said the harassment began in September. She said school officials knew about the bullying, but none will face criminal charges.

"The actions of these students were primarily conducted on school grounds during school hours and while school was in session," the prosecutor said.

Scheibel refused to discuss the circumstances of the rape charges.

Prince's family has moved away from the area and could not immediately be located for comment. Scheibel spoke for them at a news conference to announce the charges.

"The Prince family has asked that the public refrain from vigilantism in favor of allowing the judicial system an opportunity to provide a measure of justice for Phoebe," she said.

Some students accused of participating in the bullying have been disciplined by the school and will not be returning to classes.

Scheibel said the case is still under investigation, and there may be additional charges.

The Massachusetts Legislature cited Prince's death and the apparent suicide of 11-year-old Carl Walker-Hoover of Springfield last year when members passed anti-bullying legislation earlier this month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100329/...chool_bullying

Scheibel said the harassment began in September. She said school officials knew about the bullying, but none will face criminal charges.

Why aren't they facing criminal charges as well???

Bullying raises questions about schools' vigilance
Denise Lavoie, Associated Press Writer – 42 mins ago

BOSTON – A gay teenager in New York wins $50,000 from a school district that failed to stop taunts about his sexual orientation. The Justice Department investigates complaints that administrators ignored racial bullying in a Philadelphia school.

And in Massachusetts, a 15-year-old girl hangs herself after she is mercilessly harassed for months — taunting and threats that school administrators knew about but did not stop.

Now, with nine students charged in the bullying of Phoebe Prince, who hanged herself at her family's home in January, questions have arisen about how accountable school officials should be for stopping bullying.

Barbara Coloroso, a nationally known anti-bullying consultant, had been contacted by South Hadley school officials months before Phoebe's death, after a young boy in nearby Springfield killed himself. She spent a day there in September, training teachers and administrators on how to recognize and deal with bullying.

Coloroso said school officials made mistakes by failing to stop the bullying and, after Phoebe hanged herself, by allowing at least some of the students involved to continue to attend classes and a school dance with no visible signs of discipline.

"The questions to ask are: Did they follow their own rules and did they keep Phoebe safe? Obviously not. And, did they deal effectively with the bullies? Obviously not," Coloroso told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Authorities say Prince, who had recently emigrated from Ireland, endured months of verbal assaults and threats after she briefly dated a popular boy. She was harassed mostly in school, but also on Facebook and through other electronic forms.

District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said the inaction of school officials was troublesome but not criminal.

More than 40 states have anti-bullying laws that generally require schools to adopt a set of preventive policies. But Marlene Snyder of Clemson University's Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life said laws and policies don't necessarily help if schools don't follow through with intensive training for teachers and staff.

"In defense of teachers, very few of them have ever had training on bullying prevention, much less how to intervene without making the situation worse," she said. "Some people don't understand the dramatic and devastating effect that this kind of treatment can have on a child."

In upstate New York, the Mohawk Central School District agreed Monday to do more to protect students from harassment as part of a settlement with a gay teenager who claimed he was relentlessly bullied.

The boy, described only as 15-year-old Jacob, now goes to another school, and his father said he hopes other districts take note of what happened in the working-class village.

"I wish some other schools would follow in the footsteps of this school and make changes," said Robert Sullivan, who has a different last name than Jacob. "A lot of schools are going through the same thing as this school."

In Georgia, 11-year-old Jaheem Herrera committed suicide at his Atlanta-area home last year after his parents say he was repeatedly tormented in school. School officials denied it and an independent review found bullying was not a factor, but his family rejects that conclusion.

And at South Philadelphia High School, Asian students say they've endured relentless bullying and racial epithets by black students while school officials ignored their complaints. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a complaint in January with the U.S. Justice Department.

In the Massachusetts case, school officials had previously said they did not know about Phoebe's harassment before she committed suicide. They have said some students accused of taking part in the bullying have been disciplined and will not return to class.

Administrators and School Committee members did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment. In a statement, Assistant Superintendent Christine Swelko said "a small group of students" was removed from school Tuesday. She would not say how many or whether they had been expelled.

She said the school, through its anti-bullying task force, was continuing to review its policies and programs.

Legal experts said it would be difficult to charge school officials criminally, but said Prince's family could have a cause of action in a wrongful death lawsuit.

"If the mother told more than one school official what was going on, it would come down to what she actually told them, and then if they did nothing about it and something bad happened as a result, that is a basic argument that the school was indifferent and could be legally liable for what went on," said Peter Hahn, a Newton attorney who specializes in education and juvenile law.

Massachusetts is one of only seven states without a specific law targeting school bullying, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Legislature cited Phoebe's death and the apparent suicide of 11-year-old Carl Walker-Hoover of Springfield last year in passing anti-bullying legislation earlier this month. The Legislature still needs to approve a final version before sending it to the governor.

Many parents complain that the laws aren't enforced consistently and that school officials don't do enough to remove bullies from schools.

Ted Mathews, a South Hadley parent who said his 13-year-old son was harassed in school several years ago, said he doesn't understand why school administrators did not intervene.

"Bottom line is, they could have done something, but they didn't," Mathews said. "My personal belief is if you're going to hold these kids accountable, then you've got to hold these adults accountable, too. Everybody's got an excuse, but it doesn't bring her back."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100330/...xseWluZ3JhaXM-

I agree the adults need held accountable too. Furthermore, what about the parents of the bullies? Were they made aware this behavior was going on before Phoebe took her life, if so I think they should be charged also.

I pray that I never have to face this issue on either end with my kids, but I do know if I ever get a call from school saying my child is bullying another my kid will have hell to pay!

Alexis Pilkington Facebook Horror: Cyber Bullies Harass Teen Even After Suicide


Alexis Pilkington was a popular athlete, a well-liked star who had already landed a soccer scholarship to college. But none of that stopped the 17-year-old from becoming the target of nasty online comments.

Even after the Long Island girl killed herself, the harassing Internet messages kept on coming, posted on a page meant to stand as a tribute.

Now, Suffolk County police say they're investigating the messages sent before and after Alexis's death in her West Islip bedroom. Her parents said they don't believe the messages led to her suicide, but her friends have been distraught over the creepy, insensitive messages about her, many of them posted anonymously.

Michael Stracuzza, father of one of Alexis' friends, told The Associated Press he's sending prosecutors information on all the harassing posts put on a Facebook memorial site. He and other parents are hoping to take legal action because of how upsetting it is for those Alexis left behind.

"It's the effect the posts have on those who are mourning that poor girl's death," said Stracuzza, whose 18-year-old daughter Chanelle was upset after seeing the messages. "This is what needs to be addressed. Children want to mourn their friend, and there are posts of photos with nooses around her neck. It's disgusting and heartless."

A tribute to the teenager was set up on the popular social networking site, with many of her friends posting messages about how they missed her, but a flood of negative messages, many of them lewd, also piled up. A page on formspring.me, another social networking site, also was flooded with mean-spirited messages and graphic images.

Suffolk County police said they are monitoring the sites and will take action if any communications are found to be criminal. They declined to comment further on the details of the case.

Donna McBride, whose daughter often brought Alexis along on family vacations as they were growing up, said her daughter started screaming when she saw the spiteful and gruesome images. She has told her daughter to stop looking at the page and has instead asked a relative who didn't know Alexis to document the postings for authorities.

"Who has the heart to do this to people who are suffering?" she asked. "Who raised these horrible children?"

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the company did not condone cyberbullying and was concerned about the safety of its users.

"We will disable accounts that are found to be intimidating others in any way," he said.

Formspring.me issued a statement through a spokeswoman expressing condolences to Alexis' family.

"Like those closest to Alexis, we believe there are other underlying issues at work when someone decides to take their own life," the statement said. "We will work with authorities through proper legal channels to help prosecute any criminal acts involving the misuse of our system."

Just two weeks before Alexis' death, a father who lost his son to suicide after the boy was bullied online went to speak to members of the school district community. That was followed with classroom discussions on the topic, said Nancy Lenz, a spokeswoman for the West Islip School District. Alexis was unlikely to have attended the talk, McBride said.

"She was a star in our building, an athletic star. Extremely popular," Lenz said of Alexis, adding that she had already earned all the credits she needed to graduate from high school and had landed a soccer scholarship to Dowling College on Long Island, where she planned to start in the fall.

Alexis' parents did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday. Her father, Thomas Pilkington, a New York City police officer, said he'd cooperate with any legal proceedings. He said his daughter dealt with insulting comments in the days before her suicide but he doesn't blame those postings for her actions.

"It could be one of many things (contributing to her suicide), but it was not the major or even a minor factor in her deciding to do what she did," Pilkington said.

Cyberbullying has been shown to cause higher levels of depression and anxiety for victims than traditional bullying, said Robin M. Kowalski, a social psychologist at Clemson University who has done extensive research on the phenomena.

"A lot of it stems from that anonymity," she said.

Just under 50 percent of the victims didn't know who the perpetrators were in a study of 3,700 middle school students nationwide, she said. One-quarter of participants had been victims of some form of harassment over the Internet.

More than 15 states have laws making cyberbullying a harassment crime or making it easier to investigate or prosecute, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. New York does not have such a law.

Federal legislation has been proposed that would give prosecutors the ability to punish those who use electronic means to engage in severe cyberbullying -- defined as repeated, hostile and severe communication made with an intent to harm.

The laws have been spurred by the Megan Meier case in Missouri, in which an adult neighbor, her daughter and a friend were linked to a MySpace page concocted to appear to be that of a teenage boy named Josh, who initially flirted with Megan but then made hurtful comments shortly before she killed herself.

At the very least, Stracuzza wants anonymous posting to stop.

"If you're going to say something awful, then you should have your name attached to it," he said. "You shouldn't be able to hide."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_512482.html

Not guilty pleas made for 3 in Mass. bullying
30 mins ago

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Three Massachusetts teenagers charged in the bullying of a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide have entered not guilty pleas through their lawyers.

The teens were not required to appear at the hearing Tuesday in Hampshire Superior Court.

Seventeen-year-old Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey of South Hadley and 18-year-old Austin Renaud of Springfield will remain free on personal recognizance as long as they stay away from the family of the girl who died.

Mulveyhill and Renaud are charged with statutory rape. Charges against Mulveyhill and Narey include civil rights violations and harassment.

They are among nine teens charged in what prosecutors said was the "unrelenting" bullying of Phoebe Prince at South Hadley High School. Prince committed suicide Jan. 14.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100406/.../date/asc/3811

Acts of violence whether verbal or physical against our children should never be tolerated, whether done by adults or other children. Schools need to have zero tolerance of bullying. Victims of bullies just want to be left in peace to learn. Until every school has a clear, enforceable bullying policy, and each state and municipality has anti-bullying laws, (sorry folks bullying is stalking, menacing, and harassment and possibly assault, not free speech) unfortunately more young people will think that suicide is the only way for the bullying to stop. Parents and schools are both accountable for failing our children miserably. I would encourage any parent of a bullied child to relentlessly pursue justice for their child. I am just grateful there are at least other alternatives for families such as home schooling that wasn't available 20-30 years ago. Society needs to stop making excuses for bullies and they need to be held accountable for the needless, shameless torment they inflict on their victims who are just trying to get an education.

Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.These parents apparently didn't TROUBLE THEMSELVES TO LEARN WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO AND WITH THEIR CHILDREN.When will it stop...? Not until parents learn to teach their children to LOVE THEMSELVES...then you can love others.It all starts at HOME!

Both my children were bullied but not to the extreme or length of time that this poor girl went through...My husband went up this last time and he told the principal the next call he was going to make would be the sherrifs department if it happened again...so far so good....We as parents need to take a stand for our children and speak up and do what is necessary and not hide... Also, these bullies either became bullies due to their own parents and/or being bullied by siblings and I feel the staff involved needs to pay for what happened to that girl as well...They knew what was going on...Chances are that probably one of the students' parents was a board member or had a friend who is/was..just my opinion~~

People don't give bullying the seriousness it deserves to be viewed in. My brother was bullied in middle school and its destroyed his entire life. He can't even set foot mentally in a school building because of it. Guess what the school did? NOTHING. His entire future was destroyed and there's thousands of other kids out there taking the same blow to theirs; whether they stop attending, seek other solace, or kill themselves. I hope all of the kids in this case receive the maximum punishment and hopefully this case starts changes in schools around the nation. Those kids who cant defend themselves really need someone to look out for them against kids too stupid to understand the value of human life.

SO SAD IT TAKES THE THE DEATH OF A CHILD MALE OR FEMALE TO GET A BULLYING LAW PASSED,THE PARENTS OF THE BULLYS ARE TO BE PUNSHIED ALSO!!!!!!!! BUT LIKE ALWAYS HERE IN THE GREAT USA ,OVER HALF THE PARENTS THAT HAVE CHILDREN 12 & UP DON'T KNOW WHERE,WHO,WHAT THERE KIDS ARE DOING OR HAVE DONE. PARENTS ARE TO WRAP UP IN WORK,THERE SOCIAL LIFE,OR THINK IF THERE KID CAN MAKE FOOD ,WALK & TALK THEY CAN PRETTY MUCH TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES.SO WHEN YOU GET A PHONE CALL ABOUT YOU'RE CHILD YOU WANT TO ACT LIKE MY CHILD COULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!

Maybe it's time to bully the bully's.. and their parents who taught them to be bully's.

MY GRANDSON WAS BULLIED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND THE AND THE TEACHERS AND GUIDANCE COUNSELERS SAID IT WAS HIS FAULT . MY DAUGHTER WENT TO SCHOOL ABOUT IT AND STILL NOTHING WAS DONE. IN HIS GYM CLASS THERE WERE MARKS ON MY GRANDSON'S BODY WHERE HE HAD BEEN BEEN HIT AND STILL THERE WAS NOTHING DONE ABOUT IT.