Prosecutions in Phoebe Prince school-bullying case sputter out

Not long ago advocates were promoting the South Hadley, Mass. school-suicide case as a chance to break new ground in sending teens to prison for verbal bullying, but now the cases have eventuated in probation, perhaps assisted by journalistic efforts that showed the events rather more complicated than first presented in the press [Boston Globe]

2 Comments

  • So if the prosecuters bully the alleged bullies by filing crazy charges threatening to destroy thier lives for doing things in a manor common in schools across the US (i.e. not very nice, but not much different from things other people did that nobody ever seemed to notice), the prosecuters get the same (or greater, as “responsible” adults) punishment, right?

  • There is something amiss in Massachusetts. The Boston newspapers started the priest scandal that led to big paydays for lawyers. Poor Father Shanley was convicted on the evidence of repressed memory with that nonsense validated by an incompetent appellate court. We all know that girls attempt suicide more often than boys, and the boys are more effective at it. The girls death is tragic but far from remarkable. The citizens of Massachusetts are witch-trial nuts.