Posted on 03/30/2010 1:15:16 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
NORTHAMPTON – Six young people have been indicted on charges ranging from statutory rape to criminal harassment in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe N. Prince, who hanged herself in January after months of intense bullying at South Hadley High School.
(Excerpt) Read more at masslive.com ...
Unfortunately there are many people who are not in a financial position to enroll their children in private school, or who are unable to home-school. We fall into both these categories. Thus, we supplement education at home the best we can. Thus far it is working well.
In MASS? My guess is that it was written some time in the 1800’s.
I live about ten minutes from the town. People talk.
Does anyone know what the consent laws are in Mass? In Maryland it’s 16, they also have a “four year” rule, to cover high school sex...where they usually don’t charge anyone with statutory as long as they’re 18 or younger and not more than four years older.
The problem with the school is that due to the State Privacy laws, they can’t say anything.
Since all of the kids are/were minors, the school is in the position of not being able to defend itself publicly.
There are rumors in the town that are not flattering to the parents of the kids in town, but nothing substantiated.
However, if I were one of the defense attorney’s I would be doing public discovery for the next six months.
I still cannot believe that ten kids, twenty parents, and God knows how many friends, siblings, and others knew all about this. And did nothing. It just blows my mind.
The boys in question are now 17 and 18, except we don’t know their ages at the time this occurred, or whether she was 14 or 15. I don’t see how either would face any jail time. In regards to the girls involved, various reports stated she was called a “slut” etc face to face, and they probably wrote even nastier things about her online.
Do people really think that’s abnormal behavior? Welcome to high school, where kids fight, and everyone hates the freshmeat. I have to wonder whether or not we are approaching the point, where Ms. Prince’s behavior should be socially accepted for the sake of political correctness.
Her suicide is tragic, but speaks to an entirely different condition.
I for one, am going to wait to hear the other side, before rushing to a “Duke-like” prosecurtorial edict.
They did attach some civil rights charges.
It never ceases to amaze me how hard women are on one another. It’s fortunate that Jesus didn’t ask a woman to cast the first stone, or that story would have had a very different ending.
Yes, welcome to High school - Day prison for anyone who commits the crime of being teen-aged. Since society forces kids to be locked up in these institution of learning, it has a certain duty to make sure they are safe. We can’t just wash our hands and say “kids will be kids.”
It was pretty inconsiderate of the little slut to kill herself and ruin everyone’s prom, wasn’t it.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that the school did nothing to stop this. My child was being bullied in middle school. I went to the administration over and over for a year. They kept telling me they were handling it and yet it continued. The first day of school the following year it began again. I finally called the mother of the offending child myself and it never happened again. She had no idea her kid was bullying, the school never contacted her. I doubt they ever even talked to the child about their behavior either. With all their talk and money spent on programs to prevent bullying they really don’t care about getting involved in resolving these issues. If you notice all the bullying prevention programs put all the responsibility on the kids and none on the adults in charge. All these are are cya programs giving lip service to school safety.
True to the extent, that as a mother I hold her mother, as the present parent responsible.
However, the natural order has always been, women keep the social order, particularly by castigating bad behavior. Could these girls have gone too far? Of course, but we don’t know anything beyond the charges filed.
This has nothing to do with popular vs. unpopular in a high school. Every social group...including kids who might consider themselves outcasts has a pecking order.
My point perhaps not very warmly expressed, was one of wait and see to hear the other side.
Again, if the troubled girl hadn’t killed herself, this would probably not have become a case the prosecutor would have taken.
For what it’s worth, they’ll have to face God for it. That’s not swift justice, but it is eternal.
I know what it’s like to go through constant bullying, so I really hope that these monsters are shunned for the rest of their miserable lives and that they have problems finding jobs, decent spouses, and living a happy life.
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