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332 Comments
- truthmatters, on 05/17/2008, -27/+157Any bullying that results in the suicide of a child should be treated as a criminal act. These sociopaths that hide behind a computer and socially and psychologically destroy a child, need to be treated as criminals that have recklessly endangered the life of a child. Any adult that bullies a child to the point of suicide should not be tolerated in a civilized society. With teen suicide on the rise since 2004, I think bullying and depression are important societal issues that needs to be addressed.
http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5635a2. ... - DesertDude, on 05/17/2008, -8/+97LOL @ American "justice". Touch a 13-year-old girl's arm, you get arrested. Oppress her psychologically enough to drive her to suicide, you get off.
- rpi22, on 05/17/2008, -6/+82Myspace and perverts in the same sentence?! NEVER!!!!
- wynja, on 05/17/2008, -26/+64Buried for not understanding justice. The simple fact that this woman did not break any laws should show you that there is a giant loophole in the justice system. The justice system has traditionally been the last branch of government to catch up with modernization. If this woman had done this in person, then she would be liable for harassment at the very least. The case proves that activities on the internet should be addressed more closely by legislators across the country to insure that incidents like this do not occur without repercussions.
- bobbles, on 05/17/2008, -16/+51Can someone explain to me how bullying over the internet actually works? I mean... if you are reading it.. you can just close the window.. right?
- inactive, on 05/17/2008, -10/+34Lori Drew is the lowest form of life in the universe.
- smotpoker, on 05/17/2008, -3/+25It seems to me like *something* in this case would be considered illegal. Can't a parent be charged with child abuse for how they speak to/yell at them because of emotional harm? Wouldn't this be similar? How about disorderly conduct or obscene behavior or something? Charge her with all of 'em, max out the sentences and run them consecutively.
She should also lose her kid until she gets some sort of counseling and/or parenting classes, IMO. She should not be a parent if she is raising her kid to treat others like that and participating to such a large and negative degree in their social life. - gcnaddict, on 05/17/2008, -1/+23hope the pun wasn't intended.
- smotpoker, on 05/17/2008, -5/+24This *grown woman* did not simply tell her to die but impersonated a boy of the same sex, seduced her and *then* told her to kill herself amongst other things. She did so with malice and spite and it was her intent from the beginning to harm her.
Personally I feel this particular case is worse than many "horror stories" where adults end up having sex with minors and such. In most of those cases the motivating factor is personal gratification and little or no harm is perceived or inflicted by the offending adult. Even if the girl hadn't committed suicide, she could have been scarred for life
This story and Iraq are both symptomatic of the same problem - a culture of cynicism, vindictiveness and disregard of human life/well-being. Perhaps these sort of introspective stories could help influence our future perspectives - soccernamlak, on 05/17/2008, -1/+15I don't know....those webcam girls make fun of me all the time and when I try closing out of one window, 50 more windows pop up :(
- iLLz, on 05/17/2008, -11/+25Hold up, what the ***** am I hearing? If any of you little boy digg members had kids and loved these kids unconditionally as I love mine, you would know that if someone INTENTIONALLY setup a Myspace account for the SOLE PURPOSE of ***** with your son's/daughter's mentality, then you would want this bitch eradicated in the most painful way possible. Just hearing this story makes me want this bitch dead. She is an adult and she should know better than to falsify info with intent to do harm to another person. And that is exactly what she did.
Don't tell me there is no crime against this act specifically. I know there are crimes for falsifying info, such as when pedophiles falsify who they are so they can molest you little digg boys/girls. This is the same concept only she wasn't trying to setup sexual acts she was simply trying to mentally tear this girl down and the fact that she lived on the same block proves she knew it was going to kill her since its been known this girl had issues since third grade.
To anyone who thinks this "adult" lady needs to get off and walk away scott-free, I hope someone does this to your kids and smile in your face everyday like "nah nah, you cant do ***** about it".
And ***** a perversion of justice, it would be a perversion to let this bitch go unpunished. I say stone her to death or some other cool ***** in a public setting. Then we can put it on Pay-Per-View and all proceeds will goto the Meaghan girls parents.
I'm done ranting, digg me up/down who the ***** cares. I'm sick of what this country has become as of late. No ***** morals, it makes me sick. - inactive, on 05/17/2008, -6/+18I would hate to think that the death of any person is judged or diminished by the circumstances in which it occurs. Untimely Death in any manner is only one thing... bad!
- inactive, on 05/17/2008, -7/+20Lets think about the columbine kids, they got picked up, and came back and shot up the place, they are labeled "murders" but, if they had instead killed themselves for being picked on, would the jocks get charged with murder? or conspiracy ?
Its a double standard
Someone picks on you, you shoot them, you = murder
Someone picks on you, and you kill yourself then they are the murder??? - boicityboy, on 05/17/2008, -3/+15This is most definitely a criminal act. A 40-something woman harassing a 13 year old girl? WTF? Even if the girl hadn't committed suicide as a result, it's still unthinkable and outrageous. I think the main problem people have is *what* the prosecutors are charging her with rather than the fact that they are charging her. It would be great if there were some specific law that covered this scenario -- identify theft, harassment, manslaughter, *something* -- but that doesn't seem to be the case. So the DA is using the closest applicable thing it can find: hacking. Seems like a stretch, but if they can make it work, go for it. But saying the law shouldn't get involved here is silly. Laws exists to protect the rest of us from people like Drew who don't make reasonable judgments about their actions beforehand. If there isn't a law on the books that specifically protects people like Megan, then one should be created. It does seem like though, that laws that protect kids from sexual predators online could be used or expanded to cover this type of behavior.
- cambob76, on 05/17/2008, -3/+14Some of you don't seem to understand that she pretended to be a young boy and started a relationship with the girl. That's a little more than bullying. The girl thought she had a new friend until they decided to let her have it. Blocking the person doesn't really apply in this case.
- Modulo, on 05/17/2008, -6/+16ok, let me get this straight. An adult communicating with a child on the internet for the purposes of trying to ***** them, that should be illegal. An adult communicating with a child on the internet for the purposes of GETTING THEM TO KILL THEMSELVES, why, that's perfectly fine!
- inactive, on 05/17/2008, -0/+10I just can't help but feel there must be something to cover this. I mean, what if this hadn't been through the Internet? If this woman were harassing this girl in real life, I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me there are laws that would apply there, and in my opinion, the fact that she used the Internet does not change situation.
- sychodelix, on 05/17/2008, -1/+11The whole issue with the case is this was a child and not an adult that this happened to. If it was an adult, likely there would be nothing that could be done. But since she was a child, and the aggressor is an "adult". Anytime an adult causes emotional damage to a child it is criminal, especially when it results in the child's suicide. This should be no different and the adult should have been arrested immediately, whether it was done over the internet, phone line, or in person.
- homesickalien, on 05/17/2008, -10/+21I'll take perverted justice over no justice at all.
- ZenMojo, on 05/17/2008, -1/+11This woman caused the girl's death through an illegal act of harassment. I don't know why these people are so confused about it. If you got in a fight and pushed someone and he tripped over a rock and smashed his head against the ground and died, you could be found guilty of manslaughter. At the very least this woman could be liable in a wrongful death suit.
- inactive, on 05/17/2008, -3/+12I agree 100 percent with everything you said. There just needs to be appropriate legislation to fit this breed of cyber bully crimes. I think over the next 10 years you will see new legislation to deal with this and close the gaps exposed by this case
- romistrub, on 05/17/2008, -2/+11It's a psychological thing. People like to be liked, and knowing that you're not liked is usually a good reason to divert attention to whatever doesn't like you, and try to "fix" it. It sucks, but that's how people think.
- Typhoon2009, on 05/17/2008, -0/+8Don't have to be a lawyer to recognize that it's ***** up when a college kid who was smoking weed gets as much time as a murderer (or, worse, gets put in the same area of a jail as murderers and rapists). That it's ***** up when a home intruder gets shot, then sues the home owner for injuries and wins. That it's screwed up that plain old murder isn't as bad as murdering someone out of 'hate.'
- sugarazor, on 05/17/2008, -2/+10But it wasn't. It was a person that knew this girl and intentionally messed with her head and then told her to kill herself. That's harrassment.
- inactive, on 05/17/2008, -0/+8I absolutely understand that feeling but that is not justice, that is revenge
- icantseeyou, on 05/17/2008, -2/+10Until legislation is passed the lynch mob should be stopped. Hopefully a judge will dispose of this. There is a reason we have multiple branches of government. (although in this administration one might wonder)
- dualboy24, on 05/17/2008, -1/+9Its not as if this Josh character just started messaging her one day with insults and being a general jerk. The Josh user contacted her over the period of a month with compliments and proceeded to make himself someone important in this 13 year old girls life. Added to that the fact that she had been treated poorly at school most of her life, did not have many close friends, and then having someone especially a boy her age contact her with affection and compliments really did sweep her off her feet.
Then suddenly one day, one of the brightest things she had in her life started to be mean and insulting and generally evil towards her. It really would have crushed someone of that age, and in that situation. Its a tragedy, what happened and its also disgusting that an adult perpetrated it without any thought to the emotions of a young child. - LittleDas, on 05/17/2008, -11/+18It's not justice if we have to make up new rules just to punish one person. What this woman did was morally outrageous but quite frankly, not illegal. If you're concerned about the crime of harassing children over the internet until they commit suicide then write to your local congressman and tell them you support such a law. If you're just concerned with one act by one person then go ahead and keep saying this woman needs to be thrown in jail. Just remember that that won't be justice, It'll be vengence, and society cannot be built on vengence.
- PamalaLauren, on 05/17/2008, -2/+10I think this woman deserves all she gets. I doubt she'll get convicted but she'll be financially drained and that's good enough for me. Next time maybe she'll think about harassing teenagers on the web, huh? What a immature dumbass and to think she's a mother.
- CobaltBlue, on 05/17/2008, -4/+12Social Darwinism FTW.
- freebsdmike, on 05/17/2008, -1/+9So it's okay to kill someone whether it be directly or indirectly as long as it's just 1 person? Your statement doesn't even make sense.
- plague, on 05/17/2008, -2/+9I was wondering the same thing. Can't you block people on myspace, or set your profile to private? It sucks this happened, but the girl could have taken steps to keep the harassment from happening.
- CaptainHarlock, on 05/17/2008, -0/+7"Certainly a moral crime but no legal one hence Ms. Drew apparently would continue on her life path not encumbered by the steel bars so many wanted but only her conscience."
I can't stand it when people think that others have a conscience like themselves. Ms. Drew could easily go on through life without a single thought of what she did. She probably doesn't have a conscience since she did what she did. - inactive, on 05/17/2008, -3/+11Thank you for this completely unbiased article.
- zmigliozzi, on 05/17/2008, -6/+12That's why MySpace implemented a blocked list.
- ralphodog, on 05/17/2008, -3/+10Good thing all of Digg's internet lawyers are here to judge the merits of an indictment, or rather, a blogger's opinion of such in lieu of the actual indictment.
- thedrue, on 05/17/2008, -5/+12I agree. Internet "bullying" is the easiest thing in the world to ignore... delete myspace, or make a new one, so many options. Although it is a sad story Someone would have to be incredibly mentally unstable for this to even matter a little. Lori Drew does need to be examined however, but you can never say she caused the girls death.
- rinote, on 05/17/2008, -1/+7What kind of sick ***** would play with a 13 year old girl's emotions like that?
For those of you who don't understand how the 13 year old girl could be driven to suicide just try to imagine. 13 year olds are fragile and often are demonized because at this age they become teenagers are therefore trouble. She was probably going through puberty and in the awkward phase in her life, when most people are at their worst. She moved from school to school and probably felt alone, not to mention she was already on anti-depressants which may have increased the frequency of her suicidal thoughts.
So at this low point, when a really cute boy messages her on myspace she starts to feel really good with the compliments he's giving her. Maybe life isn't all that bad, right? He accepts her and thinks she's "sexi." It fills the empty void within her and maybe everything will be okay after all. But then the honeymoon is over and he turns on her.
The message that broke the camel's back?
"The world would be a better place without you."
Wouldn't you feel like the world doesn't hold any light for you? As someone who went through a similar situation as Megan, I find it incredibly cruel that a mother could do this to any child, reguardless if you felt they wronged your child by not continuing to be their friend. I personally think you should hang the perpetrator and hang her high. I'll be the first to say that the internet is not child friendly and that they shouldn't censor it. But they should protect minors from this kind of targeted abuse or at least teach them how to deal with it.
TL;DR: 13 yr old felt horrible, hang the sick ***** that did this to her, and teach minors how to deal with online relationships. - inactive, on 05/17/2008, -9/+15The woman deserves to be behind bars. How she gets there is just a formality.
- reed311, on 05/17/2008, -9/+15Suicide isn't the result of just one event, but the result of severe depression caused by many factors. Did that woman push the girl over the edge? Yes, probably. But she was not the only one to blame in this case. The parents are also responsible for allowing the girl to access the site and not getting her help when they admitted that they knew she was suffering from depression.
It was a series of unfortunate events which caused her suicide. What the woman did was unethical, but I don't believe that it was illegal. If what she did was illegal, then we must start investigating each and every suicide and see who was the main factor in the person ending their life. If a woman cheats on her husband and then divorces him and he kills himself. Then, by this logic, she must also be charged. - Mswldflwr, on 05/17/2008, -0/+6I don't tolerate any bullying of the strong over the weak in any case. But may I remind you that in this particular case we are talking about an ADULT bullying a child over a several-month period, which said adult knew the family and knew the child had emotional difficulties. That puts it in a bit of a different light, don't you think?
- MajorOutage, on 05/17/2008, -4/+10I agree that bullying should be a crime, but the severity of the crime should be judged by the acts of the bullies, not just because the victim commited suicide over it.
One person may take alot of abuse and be able to shrug it off. The next will snap after hearing the word "fat". You can't simply say that because one took it harder, that the bullies in the latter case are more guilty of bullying than the former. - Hetman, on 05/17/2008, -1/+7There needs to be some type of law about impersonating a minor online. I do not know how you would enforce it. But there just does not seem like there is a good reason why any adult would be posing as a minor. The only problem is when you get to people like catch a predator that is when it gets weird.
- sugarazor, on 05/17/2008, -0/+6That's two adults making decisions. If the "hoe" that you're talking about sought out to destroy this person, then maybe. Simple heartbreak is not the same as an adult intentionally trying to ruin a child's life and then telling her to commit suicide.
- hobophobe, on 05/17/2008, -2/+7I don't get it. She stalked that girl. There are laws against stalking. Prosecute her.
I'd be against trying to fabricate charges to see justice done, but stalking is already a crime and she can and should be tried for that crime. - MagikPoo, on 05/17/2008, -0/+5Found the police report on the smoking gun.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/11 ... - KiraDnote, on 05/17/2008, -1/+6If the prosecution is successful in this case, it will turn millions of people into criminals for mis-respresenting themselves when signing up for various internet services. I think it's time the government stopped making people criminals for ordinary behavior.
- djdole, on 05/17/2008, -4/+9There's a little road-bump in your desire to create a nanny-state to legislate bullying.
It's called the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Namely, Freedom of speech.
You can say tell me "You should *****-off and die!" till you're blue in the face. And while I may not like it (and may choose on my own to end my own life for whatever reason be it hurt feelings or emotional instability), it would be your constitutional right to say so. - Eezyville, on 05/17/2008, -0/+5You are right it is our job to protect our children. Now where were Megan's parents?
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