This is part of the Mass law against bullying.
Sentencing isn’t liable to amount to much though. I had to do more for shoplifting a few lipsticks when I was 15, than the kids who harassed Phoebe Prince to death did.
Disclaimer: I think what this girl did was horrible.
If we agree with the above statement, then this girl could also say that she thought her friend was in excruciating MENTAL pain and she was helping him to carry out his wish.
I hired a young man last year whose mom took her own life a week before he was to start his new job. He told me that he missed her terribly, but for most his life she was in so much pain that he wondered if she wasn’t better off. He said she had tried every treatment and never got better. I wonder if mental pain is less than physical pain, so where do we draw the line?
I think drawing that line is pretty easy, actually. for one, if he was wavering, then he himself wasn’t sure that the pain warranted killing himself. Also, if she was that concerned about the pain he was in, why wouldn’t she be reaching out to others? A 17 year old can’t reasonably believe that she’s the only one assessing his plight correctly. Additionally, her texts about “you didn’t need to do this” and her “work” in suicide prevention don’t sound like a person who sincerely saw it as the only possible path for him. That would be like saying to someone in severe pain from an accident, hey, kill yourself, when treatment was available. I don’t see this as parallel to that young man’s case, who was an adult and presumably had seen his mom’s pain be unrelieved for many years.
I was not in any way saying what that young woman did was justifiable. I was addressing CF’s quote. No matter how much pain the young man was in, it was not for a 17 year old girl to decide if suicide was the way to go. she should have brought it to his parents’ attention and try to get help for him.
I agree with garland. There’s no excuse for what she did. And it seems clear that her motivations were selfish, not altruistic. Selfish in a sick way, because only a sociopath would gain anything from this.
She made the difference between the young man dying that night or living longer, and perhaps beating the depression.
This is black and white to me, there is no gray. Who would ever tell a friend or anyone else for that matter to “to get back in” a truck to kill themselves? The boy was obviously depressed but had enough “something” left in him to be questioning whether he wanted to die. She tipped the scale in the other direction. This girl is very ill.
There’s no gray here.
Even in a case where we might say that someone could be justified in aiding another person to commit suicide-- let’s say the person has terminal cancer and is in excruciating pain that cannot be relieved-- it’s still not permissible to urge the person to commit suicide when they have second thoughts. The minute the person says, “I can’t go through with this” is the minute to stop.
Moreover, as should be obvious, a 17-year-old is not qualified to diagnose depression and determine that it cannot be relieved. In fact, AFAIK, nobody can do that-- nobody can tell that a person’s depression is incurable.
texting that her " friend" was dead, days before it happened, leads me to believe she is a sociopath.
Certainly in need of extensive evaluation (& confinement)
I would also agree with those who argue that people of sound mind, who need assistance to end their life, is a different kettle of fish.
The young man was not of sound mind, and suffering from chronic depression myself, I would say, it gets better with time, and it’s likely he would have made a full enough recovery to lead a long & mostly happy life.
I agree with emerald that, based on what I’ve read, it appears this young woman has serious mental issues. The need to be the center of attention (the grief-stricken friend) reminds me of that psychological disorder, Munchausen By Proxy, where a parent actually makes their child sick so they can play the role of the brave caregiver.
Which of course doesn’t lessen the horror of what she’s done, but it may shed light on why.
From the Fairhaven link above (download this week’s issue):
Even if you buy the “he was in so much mental pain I thought he would be better off killing himself” defense–and I emphatically do not—if this is true… it’s just horrific.
Charles Manson
Jonri, that link goes to a page with no ufo on it. Does it need to be downloaded via the link on that page?
You need to click on the upper left side to download this week’s issue. The news about this is on page 7 and continued on page 19.
Disregard comment 52. I found the link. Interesting that at the end of that article it states that she is being charged with “Manslaughter Involving Neglect of Legal Duty”. I’ve never heard of that.
Is she still being charged as a " youthful offender"?
I considered creating a separate account for this post but decided not to. While it may be unpopular, I do believe I’m adding more value to this discussion than “That’s horrible! She’s a monster!” so I went ahead and posted anyway.
I question the use in imprisoning her. And I don’t quite see how this is manslaughter, it seems like a bit of a stretch to say that she caused his death She didn’t force him to kill himself, he did it of his own volition. She merely directed. At best I could see an argument that she should have used some effort to prevent him that she didn’t, which might on a stretch be worthy of charging with criminally negligent manslaughter. It also doesn’t appear to rise to the level of assisted suicide either, as it doesn’t appear that she provided the means of suicide.
That’s not to say what I think she did was good or anything, but I guess I don’t see it as that bad. And without knowing much about what happened, it seems possible to argue that she did the right thing, as it’s natural to have doubts about suicide, if he really did want to kill himself and she simply helped him achieve what he wanted. Akin to if you knew someone who wanted to be a professional actor or artist or something of that nature, but had doubts about it, and you encouraged them to continue down the path towards becoming a professional actor or artist.
From personal experience, I’ve had friends who’ve considered suicide, and I’ve told them that if they were sure then they should do it. None of them have, and if they were having doubts I wouldn’t direct them to go through with it despite their doubts, but that’s just where I draw the line. Someone else draws it somewhere else. I don’t know if I can say that one is right and the other is wrong.
I can’t comment on whether this girl is a sociopath or not. Buf it she is, she would arguably be a better authority on whether or not he should have killed himself, because she can see things objectively while his mind may be obstructed by his emotions.
I don’t think you can compare “I want to be an artist” to “I want to end my life.”
Other than the fact that popular opinion on being an artist is neutral and popular opinion on suicide is negative, why not?
Because painting a picture is not the same as inhaling carbon monoxide.
You should have made a separate account.