Thursday, September 12, 2013

12 Year Old Girl Commits Suicide After Being Bullied Online

1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/sheriff-12-year-old-fla-girl-commits-suicide-after-she-was-bullied-online-by-a-dozen-girls/2013/09/12/0a7aa918-1be1-11e3-80ac-96205cacb45a_story.html?hpid=z4

2. Category: Cyber-bullying

3. Level of problem: State

4. Article concerns: A 12 year old girl commits suicide after she was bullied by more than a dozen girls. The sheriff is trying to investigate whether he can file charges under Florida's new law that cover cyber-bullying.

5. How does this affect individuals/families?: Cyber-bullying has been increasingly happening over the years because of people sending hate messages targeting one person that could lead to suicide. They are trying to get evidence of a criminal offense so the people involved can be punished. The parents of all the girls have confiscated their things such a cell phones and laptops for investigation because they understand how horrible of a tragedy this was and that their daughters had a part of this. All of these hate messages were causing her to Google different ways you die and she even had pictures of herself with razorblades laying on her arms. If detectives can find any evidence the girls could be charged with felony cyber stalking. If you bully anyone online they can build a credible case and you will be charged.

6. My input: I think that this is a horrible thing that there are such cruel kids out there who don't understand how serious bullying can be and what it can lead too. I hope that this teaches kids a lesson and that the girls involved feel horrible for bullying an innocent girl so much that she couldn't handle it anymore and committed suicide. Hopefully they do find enough evidence to charge these girls for what they did because that was totally wrong and their parents should be ashamed. Bullying has always been around and been an issue but now that the younger generation has access to the internet, they have another easier way to bully people around and they don't understand that some people can't handle it which can results in death. Young kids, like this girl for example, aren't mature enough to let it go or talk to an elder about what is going on so they can get help and stop this from happening. I guarantee if a parent was involved in this there would of been less of a chance for this situation to result in death and could of possibly been stopped. I think that more schools should teach kids or at least talk to kids about all types of bullying, how serious it can be, and how they can be punished if it gets out of hand. I am glad that more states are having these laws about cyber-bullying so people aren't just getting away with being cruel to others and making them want to kill themselves. Also, the girl met someone online that knew of her plan to kill herself and didn't say anything to anyone. Since he wasn't part of the bullying and knew what she was wanting to do he should of came forward and tried to contact either someone she was related to or even some sort of officer which could of stopped all this from happening. It makes me sad for the girls parents that their daughter was going through all of this and didn't have any idea until it was too late. Overall, these 15 girls that were bullying this poor girl should absolutely be punished with some sort of charge so maybe it will teach them to not be so cruel.

3 comments:

  1. I could not agree with you more on this subject. This article that you posted hurts my heart in so many ways. We all go through high school and those years where you are trying to figure yourself out and to have to go through teenage girls bullying is horrific. I feel so bad for this girls parents to not know what their daughter was going through. Kids these days throughout Junior High and High School seem to be getting more experience and more vicous with each other. I hope there is something that we can do to help make a stop to this tragedy. It blows my mind that students will go so far out of their way to upset someone else to the point where they take their own lives. Bullying is such a severe issue these days and some serious action needs to be taken to help prevent this.

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  2. I agree with both of these responses without a doubt! I couldn’t agree more that this is absolutely ridiculous and the parents of the girls who were doing the bullying should be astonished. There is no reason why kids should ever feel the need to gain up on one another and make someone feel like less of an individual. Cyber bullying has become a huge trend in society today and it is the parents responsibility to monitor what is going on online with their children if they do allow computer access. Not only do I feel like parents need to monitor what is going on online, but they need to really lay down some ground rules and discuss how something like cyber bullying, that seems so innocent at the time, can be so harmful to the person on the other end. I believe how we conduct ourselves starts with the home and kids now-a-days are not taught manners like they used to. Kids need to be disciplined when they do something wrong and now parents give them an iPhone to keep them quiet. I feel terrible for the girl who had to go through all this horrific bullying but it also needs to become known that kids can talk to elders and they aren’t alone in situations like this. Speaking up can only help the situation and if one child stands up for themselves that could possibly be a catapult for the other children who feel alone and don’t feel like they can speak up for themselves. There are support groups out there for kids in these situations and making them more prominent and known in the schools could potentially save someones life. It is important that these kids know the danger this behavior can cause as well as know there is help for them if they are on the other side. As far as punishment for the kids involved in this act of violence, I do feel like they should pay for what they have done but I also feel like being so young the last thing they wanted or thought would happen was that this girl would take her life. Out of all the girls that were bullying this one kid, someone should have known that deep down this was wrong and they should have stepped in but they didn’t and as a result she took her life. Nothing will bring this child back and I feel awful for the parents of this young girl. Justice should be served and this should be a lesson to everyone else that these kind of hate acts are serious and can really tear a person down.

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  3. This article caught my attention because I heard of it on the radio and could not believe the news of a child taking her life due to cyber bullying. I definitely agree with both of the responses. Justice should be served in this situation. I have a teenage sister and it amazes me how much time she spends on her iPhone and iPad. The generation today is so immersed in technology that social medias are taking over the mind set of younger children. I feel that cyber bullying should be control in all sorts of "social media". The bunch of girls who tortured the girl should understand what they did is unacceptable. It is true as like Jessica said, parents need to monitor what their children are saying and putting out there. It is the parents responsibility to have the line of communication with their children as to what type of activities the are involved in online. With my younger sister, I definitely keep a look at her "social media" pages. I keep track to what she post and I will confront her if I feel that what she is saying online is inappropriate for her age. I blame a lot of how these social media sites are just increasingly becoming so influential in today's society unfortunately it comes with the advantage of increasing cyber bullying as well. I feel so sorry for the family of this young girl taking her life. I hope justices starts with helping our society to understand the effects of cyber bullying is detrimental to anyone.

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