Lori Drew GUILTY! ('cyberbully' case)

[CaptaiN_JacK]

Just wondering what everybody's thoughts were on the Lori Drew case that just concluded yesterday, the 26th. She ended up with 3 misdemeanors. Here's the story in the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/27/us...pace.html?_r=3

I'm not sure whether she committed the crime that she was charged for, but in this case, where there weren't any other laws that could have been applicable, I think the stretching of the laws intent was justified. Her actions resulted in a teenage girl committing suicide.

My question is, if this would have happened in the real-world instead of cyberspace (ie, if an adult bullied a kid to their face and caused them to commit suicide), could they be convicted of a crime? What about if this was 20 years ago and instead of using the internet Lori instead sent letters to this girl while pretending to be a boy. Would it be mail fraud?

[skife]

the girl was 13, why wasn't her internet time being monitered, she's not even supposed to have a myspace account.

[bornl33t]

That's exactly it. She violated the terms of use for myspace by having an account while being under age. Just imagine the ramifications this carries for the average joe. They can now say you are ploting against the president for saing assasination on a forum. Of convict you of terrorism for saying bomb in a chat.

This is not justic it's sympathy in court. Lets hope it gets appealed.

[outreach]

the causing of another persons suicide regardless of how it was comited is wrong, the fake account was created in the intent to do harm wether it was to this extent or not. the probability of the suicide happening in the first place was said to be known. if you knew someone had suicidal tendencies would you tell them to go kill themselves? out of hate or whatnot

[Babylon 5]

Being from the ST.Louis area I've got to see this play out regularly on the nightly news. My thoughts on the situation is that were these the right charges ? No probly not, it's a stretch by every sense on imagination for what she was convicted for. But there should have been some more heavyer charges against Ms. Drew, you cann't be a close friend of the family and not know that the child that commited suicide had depression issues. When an adult sends a child that's battling deppression messages that say "the world would be a better place with out you" you know no good would come of it. As an adult she should have known better, did Ms. Drew pysicaly kill her no but she did load the weapon and hand it to her.

[bornl33t]

the causing of another persons suicide regardless of how it was comited is wrong, the fake account was created in the intent to do harm wether it was to this extent or not. the probability of the suicide happening in the first place was said to be known. if you knew someone had suicidal tendencies would you tell them to go kill themselves? out of hate or whatnot

ummmm well saying drew killed her is like saying guns are evil or bush is responsible for the hurricane in New Orleans. This is purely bad parenting. It's a shame Americans are un able to grasp the bigger picture of every decision they make. How can a country be so void of responcibility?
If I tell you I hate you and you should probably kill your self, whould you? If you answered "no" I would call that rational thought and I made my point. If you said I hate me too and I'm consdering suicide then I guess there is a proble with me? How about you are unstable and should probably be evaluated? What if you tell me to die and instead of suicide I find a school and empty a few mags into the student body? Is this then my fault or yours?
If you tell me to die what can I do so that it's enough not to tip the scale and still be your fault while I get off free?
If this isn't sufficient to make my case then America is in worse trouble then a president that won on the princible of taking money from some and giving it to others. God help us.

[Hilltop Customs]

wow, so young.

Stupid parenting all around.

"...Megan Meier, who was 13 and had a history of depression and suicidal impulses. "

13 and a history of this type of stuff.....so what if it was just some boy who dumped her instead of this whole conspiracy? would anyone care? Maybe people should be looking past the last few hours of her life and ask how a freaking 13 year old can have a history of depression and suicidal impulses.

[skife]

she killed herself over something that someone that she never even met in person said to her. (i know it was a real lady, but she was playing a character) wtf is up with that?

[trevorjk]

[Lohman446]

Being from the ST.Louis area I've got to see this play out regularly on the nightly news. My thoughts on the situation is that were these the right charges ? No probly not, it's a stretch by every sense on imagination for what she was convicted for. But there should have been some more heavyer charges against Ms. Drew, you cann't be a close friend of the family and not know that the child that commited suicide had depression issues. When an adult sends a child that's battling deppression messages that say "the world would be a better place with out you" you know no good would come of it. As an adult she should have known better, did Ms. Drew pysicaly kill her no but she did load the weapon and hand it to her.

As an adult she should not have been sending a child those messages regardless of mental history. She knew she was harassing a CHILD online. She should be punished for it, especially considering the outcome.

[Phaelynar]

As an adult she should not have been sending a child those messages regardless of mental history. She knew she was harassing a CHILD online. She should be punished for it, especially considering the outcome.

But the child shouldn't have been allowed on the website to begin with. While I agree that what the woman did is fairly bizarre and stupid, she shouldn't have been punished that harshly for it. A fictional person told a girl to off herself. She never met the person etc. I believe the girl would've offed herself no matter what eventually given her mental state if a complete stranger had that much influence (if any as far as we know) on her state of living or dying.

I also believe the child's parents are idiots. They had a 13 year old with a history of depression and they didn't monitor her internet use? How tough would it have been to password protect the computer, only allow the kid to use it in plain sight, etc.? They should be charged as partially responsible for their daughters death. Obviously they didn't do everything in their power to assist their child in dealing with her illness.

If the girl followed the rules of the website (which are obviously in place for a reason) then none of this would've happened. Also, if you tell a stranger to jump off a bridge, and they do it, are you legally responsible for their death? I'd hope not, or this society has some serious issues.

I would say the ruling will most likely be appealed.

[DevilMan]

But the child shouldn't have been allowed on the website to begin with. While I agree that what the woman did is fairly bizarre and stupid, she shouldn't have been punished that harshly for it. A fictional person told a girl to off herself. She never met the person etc. I believe the girl would've offed herself no matter what eventually given her mental state if a complete stranger had that much influence (if any as far as we know) on her state of living or dying.

I also believe the child's parents are idiots. They had a 13 year old with a history of depression and they didn't monitor her internet use? How tough would it have been to password protect the computer, only allow the kid to use it in plain sight, etc.? They should be charged as partially responsible for their daughters death. Obviously they didn't do everything in their power to assist their child in dealing with her illness.

If the girl followed the rules of the website (which are obviously in place for a reason) then none of this would've happened. Also, if you tell a stranger to jump off a bridge, and they do it, are you legally responsible for their death? I'd hope not, or this society has some serious issues.

I would say the ruling will most likely be appealed.

And though that is true that the 13 yo should not have been on there, then the ADULT in this instance should have reported and not been a douche and instigated more issues. IT's simple. And we all know that kids are kids and how long have fake ID's been around? As an ADULT the woman should have known better and should be held accountable for the outcome to some extent.

I agree that it's not cut and dry and black and white. But something along the lines of aggravated assault, harassment, something like that. Because Internet or phone lines. You can harass someone without it being face to face.

Still the point remains that the ADULT should be penalized for being a douche.

And for those that think she should get off scott free because she didn't actually pull the trigger..... You'd have a very strong ally if you'd pay a visit to Charlie...

DM

[Lohman446]

But the child shouldn't have been allowed on the website to begin with. While I agree that what the woman did is fairly bizarre and stupid, she shouldn't have been punished that harshly for it. A fictional person told a girl to off herself. She never met the person etc. I believe the girl would've offed herself no matter what eventually given her mental state if a complete stranger had that much influence (if any as far as we know) on her state of living or dying.

I also believe the child's parents are idiots. They had a 13 year old with a history of depression and they didn't monitor her internet use? How tough would it have been to password protect the computer, only allow the kid to use it in plain sight, etc.? They should be charged as partially responsible for their daughters death. Obviously they didn't do everything in their power to assist their child in dealing with her illness.

If the girl followed the rules of the website (which are obviously in place for a reason) then none of this would've happened. Also, if you tell a stranger to jump off a bridge, and they do it, are you legally responsible for their death? I'd hope not, or this society has some serious issues.

I would say the ruling will most likely be appealed.

I agree there is plenty of blame to go around.

If I tell a four year old child that Santa Claus needs saving (and the world will be a better place with Santa after all) and is in that river just a couple hundred feet below this bridge and they jump is it different?

[skife]

I agree there is plenty of blame to go around.

If I tell a four year old child that Santa Claus needs saving (and the world will be a better place with Santa after all) and is in that river just a couple hundred feet below this bridge and they jump is it different?

your comparing a 13 year old to a 4 year old.
Its very different.

the 4 year old doesn't have the mentality to think "hey, if i jump off this bridge, whats going to happend when i get down there"

the 13 year old would think "When i hit the water, I've got no way to get back up"

[Lohman446]

your comparing a 13 year old to a 4 year old.
Its very different.

the 4 year old doesn't have the mentality to think "hey, if i jump off this bridge, whats going to happend when i get down there"

the 13 year old would think "When i hit the water, I've got no way to get back up"

This is not peer on peer pressure. This is an adult (apparently with no life) messing with a child.

I think if an adult did that to my child with the same results, what charges to try them for would not be an issue. There is a question of justice in here somewhere, not just what to put the adult in jail for.