Thursday, October 17, 2013

Felony Counts for 2 in Suicide of Bullied 12-Year-Old

Week #7
Article #1
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/felony-charges-for-2-girls-in-suicide-of-bullied-12-year-old-rebecca-sedwick.html?ref=us&_r=0
1.     Category of problem: Security
2.     Level of problem: National
3.     This article concerns: Bullying
4.     Importance/effect on families/individuals: This article affects students or individuals that have been bullied throughout school or in other situations. It also makes parents aware of what their children might go through when being bullied by other children. And also to be aware of taking precautions if their children are being bullied or if they are being aggressive towards other children.

My input: In this article a 14-year-old girl bullied a younger student that was 12 years old non-stop. She bullied her through Facebook, other social networks and in school. She would also turn the 12-year-old girl’s friends against her and repeatedly told her to kill herself and that nobody liked her. Eventually after all the bullying, the 12-year-old girl committed suicide. After a month, the girl that would continuously bully her commented on Facebook that she had bullied the girl and made her killed herself. She is currently in the Juvenile county jail and will be charged for aggravated stalking. After reading this article, many children go through this when they are younger or even at an older stage. Therefore more parents and friends need to be aware of what goes on when a person is being bullied and call for help. If people become more aware of these situations, the individuals that are being bullied could get support and not feel so threatened by the aggressors. Cases like this one should encourage us to open our eyes and be aware of these situations to take control and not let innocent people hurt themselves.


6 comments:

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  2. I agree that cases like this should make people open their eyes and realize that there is a problem. It saddens me to hear that the bullying that this child went through was so severe that she took her life. It's not fair for a child to want to end their life because somebody else chooses to belittle them. This girl still had her whole life ahead of her and it was ended all because other children wanted to make themselves feel better. I think that there should be more education and awareness of bullying in the schools. The children should be shown cases, such as these so that maybe it could put a stop to it or even make an impression on the children. Parents should also be educated to watch for signs of bullying that could potentially save their children's lives. This really makes me feel sad that a child (at any age) could want to kill themselves because somebody has made them feel inferior :(

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  4. This is a really interesting case to me because the bully’s behavior had been ongoing for at least one year, and yet law enforcement did not feel the need to take legal action until the “aggravated stalking” had caused a 7th grader to commit suicide? I feel that this reveals the deeper issue that bullying (or aggravated stalking or severe harassment, however you would like to refer to it) is not taken seriously until it results in something dramatic and tragic for the community (such as a murder or suicide), as opposed to something dramatic and tragic for the victim. As a victim, it would seem as though the torment would be inescapable – if someone is experiencing severe harassment (legally, aggravated stalking) on a literal daily basis, with physical proof of evidence from text messages and social media websites, why is this person (especially a child) unable to find relief? All parties involved (parents, teachers, law enforcement, even peers) had the tools necessary to end this torment and yet they did nothing; I’m not willing to believe that a 14-year-old is so powerful that her behavior can’t be stopped. Further, if the police are so quick to take legal action now, why weren’t the police able to arrest the bully during the long course of her torment? The article reveals that involved parties were aware of Rebecca’s situation, so the question again is, why didn’t anyone stop it? And I think the answer is that bullying, as an issue, is not taken seriously. Acting as though bullying is not a problem creates an environment where bullying persists, and victims feel helpless, embarrassed, and that their situation is “not serious”. Bullying needs to be taken seriously, but often this manifests as punishment for the bullies (as it did in this case). This is ineffective. Bullies at school, more often than not, are being bullied or neglected at home. No amount of punishment is going to prevent an unhappy, insecure child from bullying or bullying again – in fact, it may just perpetuate it. Instead, we should take the opportunity to help both parties (the bully and the victim). Both parties are feeling insecure and unhappy for differing but similar reasons, and everyone would benefit if we (as the involved parties, schools in particular) showed these children that we care about them and what their going through. Therapy is a woefully underutilized tool that I feel could be key in vastly increasing pro-social behavior and kindness in our public schools.

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  5. Hearing stories like this makes me absolutely disgusted. Not only do I feel that justice has been served, it blows my mind that NO ONE said anything to the girl doing the bullying and that no one through all of the social media put an end to this disgusting behavior. Why does it have to take an innocent child taking their life for people to finally speak up. Parents need to be more aware of what their kids are doing on social media sites, and other students who knew this was happening should have spoken up. Bullying is a growing epidemic in our country especially since social media has taken the world by storm it has become so easy for people to feel that they can get away with things like this. If kids feel like they have a trustworthy individual they can share this kind of information with maybe kids will begin to speak up and help put an end to it. Death does not need to be the ultimate end for these individuals being victimized so my hope is that more awareness will be spread about bullying and all of this will eventually come to an end.

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  6. This is a horribly disturbing reality that too many children face. I don't know the whole situation, but clearly more should have been done sooner both from the parents end as well as law enforcement. When the girl began receiving psychiatric care and had to be pulled out of school, precautions should have been taken to prevent any further bullying. How could something like this happen with a parent as aware as she was of the situation? The young girl who fell victim to the bullying was at an extremely vulnerable age. At the age of twelve most girls are insecure because of all of the changes they're experiencing. The fourteen year old was clearly a very disturbed young girl...How does a teenager acquire such a hostile personality? Her parents must have seen signs that would merit concern...They must have passed on some of the traits to their daughter to begin with.
    The younger bully must have looked up to the fourteen year old and was trying to gain her acceptance by bullying her friend. After showing remorse for the consequences of her actions, she will regret it for the rest of her life. Meanwhile, the 14 year old, who showed no remorse, will go on through life tormenting others.

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