Megan Meier, a 13 year old girl in Missouri, killed herself last year after "Josh," an 18 year old boy she had met on myspace and had begun to like, told her that the "world would be a better place without [her]."
Little did Megan know, that "Josh" was really an 18 year old girl who wanted to know what Megan thought about her neighbor.
Today Missouri prosecutors ruled that no charges would be sought in the case however, those involved will be punished. Missouri law does not state any part of this case in its harrassment statute therefore there is nothing to be charged with.
Many young teens such as ourselves use Myspace, Facebook, and other networking sites on a weekly, if not daily, basis. If this had happened to someone close to you, wouldn't you want the person involved to be severely punished? And if so, in what way do you think is appropriate?
Do you agree with the prosecutors ruling?
Even though, there was no reason to charge the accused according to Missouri law, what would you have done if you were in the prosecutors position?
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7 comments:
If this had happened to someone close to me, I would definitely want the person involved to be severely punished. But, that would add a personal bias which wouldn't be beneficial or fair to a process like this. Although I personally feel that this was a terrible incident, the ruling made is also somewhat correct.
Whoa.. that is kinda extreme. I would have never imagined that adolescents take simple internet communication devices so seriously. I think that this case is extremely odd and rare. If someone close to me committed suicide over myspace, I would be enraged at the person who caused it. I think that the person who harassed Megan should have been prosecuted for something more severe. She got off easy and she definitely does not deserve it. In my opinion, I don't think that kids should take messages over myspace so seriously in the first place. It is just a means of communication for teens.
I agree with the Prosecution. Yeah, the girl who was saying those awful things to the other girl should be punished, but she didn't kill her; the girl killed herself. That was a pretty messed up thing to say, but if Meier took it so much to heart then she'd have probably killed herself the next time some bonehead said something like that to her. She should have talking about this issue to her parents or something, and it sounds like she could have really used some counseling.
1. If Missouri Law doesn't forbid this behavior, then the prosecutor had no choice. Prosecutors who don't follow the law are more dangerous than criminals.
2. That being said, I would be in favor of a law that would prohibit this sort of cruelty in the future, especially since
3. "Josh" was actually contrived by adults -- parents of a girl who lived down the street, who preyed on Megan's obvious insecurity about her weight. This wasn't just one teen letting the drama get the better of them, it was adults seeking revenge for some other petty thing.
It was pretty clear from the get go that prosecuting this case was legally shaky; the prosecutor probably considered it for a while to make the guilty parents sweat for a while.
One hopes that the community will make that guilty family's existence socially uncomfortable to the point that they choose to move away. The consequences may not fit the offense, but it will help Megan's family in a meaningful way, knowing that people will not stand to be associated with people like that.
I think another problem with this case is how exactly do you prove that it was the comment that caused the girl to commit suicide? Even if there was a law that prohibited this cruelty, if the person had a history of depression or insecurity, a defense attorney might call the incident a coincidence. So is there another way of preventing this sort of thing from happening?
The commments by this 18 year girl was very cruel and evil. She should be reprimanded in some way, but not too severely. That being said, the prosecutors should not be able to charge this girl severly anyway. If the 13 year old girl killed herself after reading one the comment, she had problems and suicidal thoughts way before the comment anyway. Why hadn't anyone noticed any suicidal signs to begin with? And like Matt said, how can we know for sure that the comment led directly to the young girl killing herself? We just don't know everything this girl experienced.
It seems to me that the 13-year old girl was being very uncautious. We hear so many things about stalkers on MySpace, etc. so it seems almost irresponsible of the girl. I still feel that it was a horrible thing that happened and the 18-year old girls should be punished. Overall it seems like both were at fault. Matt mentioned that there is no proof that the message caused her to commit suicide, and I'd have to agree with that.
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