When is Suicide, Murder?

Okay, look, like everyone else, I don't know the specifics of this case, but what I do know, or believe to be true or "right" is that unless the 9 "mean girls" who were harassing Phoebe Prince actually put the rope around her neck and purposely took away the footing where she was standing, then they are not culpable in her death.

I realize there is a lot of pain for the parents of Phoebe Prince, a lot of fear on the part of the school officials, of a law suit for not intervening, and a political expedience on the part of the DA or the prosecutor in charge of the investigation to place blame somewhere and to get a conviction. That being said, where does the responsibility of the parents and the personal responsibility of the young lady who killed herself come into play?

I believe the key words here are suicide, killed herself, and personal responsibility. Some people have weak minds. Some people just can't deal with life. I have seen many times in the past where someone tries to commit suicide, they fail, and are placed in a mental ward or forced to undergo counseling and placed on medication to "cure" them. I don't know, has anyone who tried to commit suicide and failed ever been successful in placing the blame and getting a conviction of someone driving them to that suicide? My guess is no. So what's the difference?

Well, in my little pea brain there is none, but to the politically motivated prosecutor, the law suit weary school, and the accusatory parents, it must be someones fault other than the poor little dead girls. I believe the "9 mean girls" are guilty...just not of murder. I think they a bullies and should probably suffer some consequences for the crimes they committed. I think if they threw a can of Red Bull at the young lady, they should suffer whatever consequences that crime holds, If they pushed her, shoved her, beat her, or otherwise assaulted her, those things have legal consequences. I don't believe, however, that they should be convicted of, indicted for, or even accused of murder if they didn't place the rope around the girls neck and remove her sound footing from where she stood.

I too was bullied in school. I think everyone, at some point, was bullied. Everyone has someone with whom they disagreed. That usually led to some level of bullying by one or the other. I can't tell you how many time I had my rear end kicked in school. I had a gang of guys who were a year or so older than me, who just had to back me into a corner once a day or their day wasn't complete. Sometimes I fought my way out. Other times a teacher or some of my friends helped me get out, but either way, I usually ended up black eyed or bloody nosed. I had a group of guys who done the same things to a couple other guys smaller, fatter, uglier, smarter, richer, poorer weaker than we were. It's a kid thing. It wasn't something we killed ourselves over though.

Bullying is just a part of life, sometimes you bully, other times you get bullied. We grow up and grow out of it, or we become a politician where bullying your constituents has seemingly become the way of governance in today's government. I don't see the constituency, for the most part, committing suicide though. However, if they did, and left a suicide note that said they were just tired of being bullied, pushed around, and harassed by the government, would the government be prosecuted for murder? I had a friend, a close friend, who committed suicide because he owed the IRS a bunch of money and they continuously harassed him by phone and mail for payment. Are those IRS agents culpable in his death? I mean...I'm just sayin'.

So you tell me. When is suicide murder?

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