An 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge, after his roommate posted a video on the Internet of his intimate encounter with another man.
Authorities are now determining how to charge Dharum Ravi and his friend Molly Wei, also a college student. So far Ravi faces five years in prison for invasion of privacy, but that could increase to ten years if his crime is deemed a hate crime against homosexuals. The case is very high-profile, with activists demanding that Ravi and Wei be charged with manslaughter.
The victim, Tyler Clementi, was a violinist majoring in music, whom friends described as "shy and brilliant."
This latest incident is one of the high-profile cases of cyberbullying, but not the first suicide of a young person linked to that activity. A Massachusetts high school student, newly arrived from Ireland, hanged herself after being teased publicly on the Internet; in 2008, an 18-year-old girl committed suicide after her boyfriend circulated nude pictures of her; and 13-year-old Seth Welsh also killed himself after cyberbullying incidents.
Though many people mistakenly believe that bullying is a boys' activity, many girls are involved in bullying (as both victims or perpetrators), with cyberbullying an unfortunately common type of bullying among girls.
Labels: cyber-bullying, bullying, suicide
Posted By: Boarding Schools for Girls
