Bullying is now a crime in Massachusetts

[basshead4life]

^^^^ This

i have 6 kids, 4 girls and 3 boys

and um math fail?

Edited March 31, 2010 by basshead4life

[UnderLoK]

People need to grow the fuck up, this country is crashing hard. Everyone is the fucking exception anymore.

While it's sad how this situation ended up I completely agree with you.

My wife teaches 7th & 8th graders and it's unreal the amount of crap they get away with these days. It's just as shame that parents can't accept responsibility for their children anymore and think that their kids are the schools problem. That is until the schools try to punish the kids or accuse them of wrong doing and then the parents flip. To take that even further parents want their kid labeled with a disability if they aren't popular, if they don't do well in school, if they are lazy... People often talk about the rise in autism, attention disorders, and the like and use those conditions to let their kids get away with murder when there are kids out there that really are disabled.

Sorry to get off topic there; kids will be kids. It's not easy growing up but those experiences help mold who we are. I sure as hell didn't get along with everyone and got in my share of fights, arguments, heart break, and the like. If I had gone to my mom and said "mom these kids are bullying me" she would have made me handle it and the administration back then (the 90's) was the same way. Kids have many avenues available to them and while I normally chose to fight often times my friends would diffuse the situation before I even knew there was one.

Some people just can't handle the stress and while I know it strikes a nerve hearing that it's the harsh reality. All of us handled things differently. I had friends who if picked on just ignored it, others would throw words back, others would tell on them (bad idea), and others (like me) would attack them physically. I know (again) in this day and age you don't want kids doing that sort of thing, but let's be honest here. The only real way to stop a bully is to shut their big fat mouth. It can be a slippery slope to deal with, but they are valuable lessons because jerks don't stop being jerks once they leave high school.

People say "How could this have been prevented!?" well it couldn't have been. The girl obviously had serious issues and the kids giving her problems were more than likely not even the last straw. Maybe the parents could have been more supportive, maybe the school could have done more, maybe her friends (if she had any) should have stepped in, maybe the kids bulling her needed their butts kicked, or maybe this girl just had deeply rooted problems that we will never understand. Some people are just broken and unfortunately if she had taken her life and no one was treating her badly they would have found something else to blame it on (parents divorce, grandma that died, Alice Cooper, Country music, failing a test, whatever).

Anyways sorry to ramble guys, but honestly laws like this shouldn't exist. There should be more leeway between a kid being called names and being harassed especially since in the real world as an adult you are forced to deal with situations like this on your own. As usual we are working hard to make sure our kids are clueless on how the world works. Too much sheltering of our children results in kids that either lash out as adults, wind up in jail, or worse. These handy labels that they give out these days won't keep your kid out of trouble once they hit 18 and the sooner they learn how the world works the better.

Edited March 31, 2010 by UnderLoK

[cthedinger]

People need to grow the fuck up, this country is crashing hard. Everyone is the fucking exception anymore.

this!

[JEMT8]

Sorry. I forgot to include she committed suicide. But I really think the kids who tortured the girl need to get served big time.

[DStortz]

I say they bring back teachers being able to beat students......

[z_ro]

While it's sad how this situation ended up I completely agree with you.

My wife teaches 7th & 8th graders and it's unreal the amount of crap they get away with these days. It's just as shame that parents can't accept responsibility for their children anymore and think that their kids are the schools problem. That is until the schools try to punish the kids or accuse them of wrong doing and then the parents flip. To take that even further parents want their kid labeled with a disability if they aren't popular, if they don't do well in school, if they are lazy... People often talk about the rise in autism, attention disorders, and the like and use those conditions to let their kids get away with murder when there are kids out there that really are disabled.

Sorry to get off topic there; kids will be kids. It's not easy growing up but those experiences help mold who we are. I sure as hell didn't get along with everyone and got in my share of fights, arguments, heart break, and the like. If I had gone to my mom and said "mom these kids are bullying me" she would have made me handle it and the administration back then (the 90's) was the same way. Kids have many avenues available to them and while I normally chose to fight often times my friends would diffuse the situation before I even knew there was one.

Some people just can't handle the stress and while I know it strikes a nerve hearing that it's the harsh reality. All of us handled things differently. I had friends who if picked on just ignored it, others would throw words back, others would tell on them (bad idea), and others (like me) would attack them physically. I know (again) in this day and age you don't want kids doing that sort of thing, but let's be honest here. The only real way to stop a bully is to shut their big fat mouth. It can be a slippery slope to deal with, but they are valuable lessons because jerks don't stop being jerks once they leave high school.

People say "How could this have been prevented!?" well it couldn't have been. The girl obviously had serious issues and the kids giving her problems were more than likely not even the last straw. Maybe the parents could have been more supportive, maybe the school could have done more, maybe her friends (if she had any) should have stepped in, maybe the kids bulling her needed their butts kicked, or maybe this girl just had deeply rooted problems that we will never understand. Some people are just broken and unfortunately if she had taken her life and no one was treating her badly they would have found something else to blame it on (parents divorce, grandma that died, Alice Cooper, Country music, failing a test, whatever).

Anyways sorry to ramble guys, but honestly laws like this shouldn't exist. There should be more leeway between a kid being called names and being harassed especially since in the real world as an adult you are forced to deal with situations like this on your own. As usual we are working hard to make sure our kids are clueless on how the world works. Too much sheltering of our children results in kids that either lash out as adults, wind up in jail, or worse. These handy labels that they give out these days won't keep your kid out of trouble once they hit 18 and the sooner they learn how the world works the better.

I agree with some of these things.

But at the same time you're talking about Modern times. Where a person who may have been dealt with comes back with a GUN. Think back to American History X. While that was a movie the ending is ALL too real.

You say these "KIDS" deserve leeway because after all they are just kids. These days however, kids are no longer kids.

All of these "KIDS" are 16 and older. Some Adults by law.

Sean Mulveyhill, 17, of South Hadley. Charged with statutory rape, violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly.

-- Kayla Narey, 17, of South Hadley. Charged with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly.

-- Austin Renaud, 18, of Springfield. Charged with statutory rape.

-- Ashley Longe, 16, of South Hadley. Charged as a youthful offender with violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury.

-- Sharon Chanon Velazquez, 16, of South Hadley. Charged as a youthful offender with stalking and violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury.

-- Flannery Mullins, 16, of South Hadley. Charged as a youthful offender with stalking and violation of civil rights resulting in bodily injury.

Three 16-year-old South Hadley girls, whose names were not released, face delinquency charges that include the civil rights offense, criminal harassment and disturbance of a school assembly.

Stalking? I mean come on! if someone so much as shows up to your house unwanted these days a person can get a restraining order lol.

True the girl may have had some psychological problems but we are not talking about middle school NA-NA-NA-boo-boo picking on. We are talkin harrasment. Borderline assault. STATUTORY RAPE!

ALL grown up problems. These kids KNEW between right an wrong.

Edited March 31, 2010 by z_ro

[somerandomguy]

I say they bring back teachers being able to beat students......

I say they should bring back being able to kill people JUST because they are stupid, oh wait.. that was never?

I say they should let you kill people JUST because they are stupid.

Edited March 31, 2010 by somerandomguy

[az73]

you forgot to include that they caused her to KILL HERSELF.. you make it seem as though they bullied her and then she moved and it's all good, or something.

I think that the teachers and whoever else knew about it should be in trouble, but on the news it said they wouldn't be. The students also need to be punished for her death.

i agree 100% ^^^^^^^^. the school,the police, the kids and even the parents. part of raising your kids is teaching them to stand up for themselves

[pervitizm]

theres a differnce between bullying and harasment and if shes getting bottles thrown at her that's border line assault.

No there isn't. Bullying is your beginning form of harasment, which by the way harasment is illegal.the bottle being thrown at her wasn't bordler line assault, it was assault period. The schools knew about the harasment and did nothing to stop it. Now this child is dead because of it. Do I think it should be a crime, in the extent of this case yup. No one should be made to feel like crap every day from someone else. That's not a right and if there would have been chargers brough up on these bullies months ago this girl might still be here. Start off with misdemeanors (sp) for those that contiue to bully after the school has warned them. Felony charges when harasment contiunes and physical harm has been done. Kids are sent to school to learn, not to be tormented or harassed.

[UnderLoK]

I agree with some of these things.

But at the same time you're talking about Modern times. Where a person who may have been dealt with comes back with a GUN. Think back to American History X. While that was a movie the ending is ALL too real.

You say these "KIDS" deserve leeway because after all they are just kids. These days however, kids are no longer kids.

All of these "KIDS" are 16 and older. Some Adults by law.

Being put on trial as an adult and being an adult are two totally different things and depend on the crime.

These days are no different than they were when I grew up other than schools are more out of control. I grew up not far from where I live now (2 miles at most) and we border Detroit which I think should say enough. While our town is sheltered from Detroit for the most part it's still an influence. I saw kids with guns, I had guns pulled on me twice and I was shot at once by kids that were good kids who made poor decisions. Had I been shot things would have gone down differently, but I wasn't.

As far as the rape thing goes, I don't know the details so I can't even say one way or the other nor would I especially since it is such a hot topic. All I can do is compare it to my experiences and say that every year literally close to a hundred kids a year would have gone to jail for statutory rape here. It was common for seniors and juniors to date freshmen. Girls have always aimed higher around here. The juniors and seniors were with college guys and the sophomores and freshmen were with juniors and seniors. More often than not statutory rape comes into play when a parent decides it is no longer ok. Again, I have no idea about this girls situation, I'm just commenting on the law itself which is more often than not highly selective and open to interpretation which is not something a law should be.

I'm not trying to defend these kids, they deserve whatever they get, my comments were more about the population in general and changing laws because of 10 people out of 300,000,000. I understand that often times laws are passed due to specific events and this could prove to be one of those laws, but more laws aren't always the best answer. There were existing laws in place to protect this girl and for whatever reason(s) the police weren't involved, but the fact remains that they could have been because as we all know bullying to an extreme such as this is against the law already.

The term bully can be used to describe all kinds of people and this law (while I haven't looked into it so I could very well be talking out my ass) could more than likely be used for all kinds of situations where it doesn't apply. For example a kid calling another kid stupid is technically bullying. A kid making you move out of the way in the hall is again bullying. A guy blocking an isle in the library and not moving so you can get by is yet again bullying.

This girl wasn't bullied, she was raped (law is law), assaulted, and harassed.

Edited March 31, 2010 by UnderLoK