Why would anyone do this to another human being?

[akhenaten]

This was not a prank. This was a deliberate attempt to humiliate/degrade this boy by making public the most intimate details of his life. The filming with out consent was bad enough but to post it on the net could have no other outcome but to cause this young man great embarassment. Their actions were deliberate and their intentions were very clear. It sickens me

Well put and I agree......

 

[walden]

I have to admit I'm a bit offended by your comment here, because I do understand exactly what a prank is, and yes what this kid did fits the definition, and of course a prank can be pre-mediatated. The outcome has no bearing on whether or not this was by definition a prank or not. Now I have no idea what the roommates intention was so I will not go around saying this was a hate crime, until there is actual evidence proving it is. I happen to believe in innocent until proven guilty, so please don't mistake that for misunderstanding.

I'm not the person you were responding to, but no, this action does not fit the definition of a prank.

These two young people deliberately, and knowingly, filmed by Web-Cam intimate sexual acts by a third and fourth party without those parties consent. That is illegal and an invasion of privacy. And any right thinking person would belive it to be beyond the pale whatever the sexual orientation of the people filmed.

They then compounded the error by doing a live feed on a second illegal filming. For the sole purpose of humiliating their victims and getting a good laugh.

It is incredibly sad that this lead to the suicide of one of the parties involved, and they may not have been able to predict that. But it was still a terrible thing to do.

Jail for invasion of privacy will wreck their little lives? They just wrecked several lives. Tyler's, the parents who lost their son and his boyfriend's lives. Those two bullying idiots should do jail time. They should also live the rest of their lives in shame because their illconsidered action lead to the death of Tyler. I have no sympathy for them.

I shake my head at people who want to dismiss this as a "prank."

 

[Imzadi]

Jail for invasion of privacy will wreck their little lives? They just wrecked several lives. Tyler's, the parents who lost their son and his boyfriend's lives. Those two bullying idiots should do jail time. They should also live the rest of their lives in shame because their illconsidered action lead to the death of Tyler. I have no sympathy for them.

I wonder if the parents can/will file a wrongful death lawsuit against the two people. So that, if the family wins, even if these two do not spend many years in jail, winning a financial lawsuit could essentially bankrupt them for life.

I am glad the newspapers have printed pictures of them. Hope they feel an ounce of humiliation & remorse for what they did.

 

[CandyMandy]

I have a hard time thinking that this would be done if he was with a girl.

wheeeew...you must not be around a lot of high school and college students....

 

[princessmom29]

What thes two did certianly goes way beyond a prank. I don't know how anyone could call it that. Invasion of privacy, psycological abuse, mental torture, a criminal act, milicius, vile, reprehensible, all of these apply, but calling it a prank trivializes what was a truly horrifc act that lead to a young man's death.

 

[DawnCt1]

It's terrible, that poor kid and his family. Those kids should be charged with murder or manslaughter!!!

They certainly should be charged with a felony with regard to invasion of privacy, etc. What they did was illegal, cruel, mean, hateful, but they had no control over his very sad choice to end his life.

 

[luvmy3]

I'm not the person you were responding to, but no, this action does not fit the definition of a prank.

These two young people deliberately, and knowingly, filmed by Web-Cam intimate sexual acts by a third and fourth party without those parties consent. That is illegal and an invasion of privacy. And any right thinking person would belive it to be beyond the pale whatever the sexual orientation of the people filmed.

They then compounded the error by doing a live feed on a second illegal filming. For the sole purpose of humiliating their victims and getting a good laugh.
It is incredibly sad that this lead to the suicide of one of the parties involved, and they may not have been able to predict that. But it was still a terrible thing to do.

Jail for invasion of privacy will wreck their little lives? They just wrecked several lives. Tyler's, the parents who lost their son and his boyfriend's lives. Those two bullying idiots should do jail time. They should also live the rest of their lives in shame because their illconsidered action lead to the death of Tyler. I have no sympathy for them.

I shake my head at people who want to dismiss this as a "prank."

Uumm, did I ever say what they did was not a crime? Or serious? A prank can be both of those things and who said I am dismissing what they did, go back and read what I have posted here, especially where I said that they should be charged with anything they legally can be, including involuntary manslaughter. If i was dismissing this as just some practical joke I most likely would have said a slap on the wrist and expulsion from school sould be sufficient punishment.

 

[DawnCt1]

Anyone a lawyer or play one on tv?

I'm curious if you can be found guilty of man slaughter when the death is a suicide? A PP mentioned being 'killed'. Is suicide the same thing as being killed in the eyes of the law?

Do you remember the woman who posed as a teenage boy on the internet, befriended her daughter's rival and then bullied her to the point of suicide? I do not believe that she was ever convicted of manslaughter, although the verdict was sought. That was ongoing, deliberate taunting and bullying that lasted for weeks. I believe that a civil, monetary judgement was later brought against her. So no, suicide is not murder by proxy.

 

[CandyMandy]

I'm watching some very sharp legal experts who all practice in NJ on TV right now discussing this case. They are all agreeing that on the criminal charges side neither Ravi or Wei will see a day of jail time (the invasion of privacy case won't meet the sentencing criteria for that).

However, some of the legal panel feel the victim's family could possibly succeed in going after damages by suing both perpetrators in civil court. Note that in the 2006 case Dawn cited above (details in link below), the mother who bullied (via MySpace) the girl who committed suicide was initially convicted on crimminal charges, but they were subsequently overturned on appeal by a higher court.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10278483-36.html

 

[FireDancer]

I do agree that they should not spend life in jail, however, they need to be held accountable for the actions.

So what is the proper punishment? This was a premeditated, thought out act.

Not to mention...........what about the other boy involved in the sexual encounter?

The two involved should definitely be charged for invasion of privacy and should get the maximum sentence allowed for that crime.

I don't think it should go beyond that though. In the end it was the choice of the student involved to take his own life. Anyone who is taped having sex or doing anything else against their consent (gay or straight, doesn't matter) should have legal recourse for that crime but for that crime only. They premeditated to tape the encounter and put it on the Internet, they didn't premeditate to have the boy kill himself. Unlike a drunk driver who directly causes the death of the victim these people didn't directly cause the death, the young man unfortunately did that himself.

Whether or not it is a prank is just semantics so I don't think it matters. A prank could result in a crime. I'm sure pranks have resulted in a building burning down, people losing limbs, and other terrible things but they started out as a prank and went wrong. I think it comes down to intent.

In the end you can't always control what other people, even cruel mean ones, do to you but you are always in control of how you react to it. If someone kills themselves that is their choice and no one else's.

Just my opinion of course and other people are entitled to theirs.

 

[Hannathy]

I'm watching some very sharp legal experts who all practice in NJ on TV right now discussing this case. They are all agreeing that on the criminal charges side neither Ravi or Wei will see a day of jail time (the invasion of privacy case won't meet the sentencing criteria for that).

However, some of the legal panel feel the victim's family could possibly succeed in going after damages by suing both perpetrators in civil court.

And that is so sad because you know if those two worthless things (I can't call them human beings) had harassed a dog or a cat until it jumped off the bridge to get away from them and died, they would be having the book thrown at them.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/facebook/7220896.html

This is the story of a 13 year old in the Houston area that recently committed suicide over bullying and accusations of being gay. So sad - my heart broke to hear about this little boy.

This student attended my school three years ago - different distrcit - and was in a teacher's class in my community. We are heartbroken.

Just this afternoon in our district a 16 year old was beaten by a gang of other students. He was saved by an assistant principal and two custodians. (This happened near the high school, off campus.)

I just don't understand how anyone can take pleasure in stripping another human being of their dignity. What animals.

 

[momrek06]

What the heck is going on in this country?

Even if those two scum bags that did this to Tyler do not serve a day in jail ... I so hope that his death will haunt them the rest of their lives. Tyler's blood is indeed on THEIR hands.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

There is a powerful new movement that Dan Savage has started on YouTube called "It Gets Better." It's a shame that it just started getting publicity this week, because I think it is going to have a very positive effect on young, gay, males/females who are getting bullied. Just do a Google or YouTube search on Dan Savage and "It Gets Better." The videos that are coming out are amazing, and I hope they can help prevent some kids from committing suicide over things like this.

It is becoming far too common, now, and at some point the Courts have to take a hard stance and make someone the example. I would have no problem with the roommate being that example in this case.

God Bless Dan Savage! God knows how many people have healthy, happy lives because of him, and how many gay (and straight) kids are alive because they can log onto the AV Club or The Stranger and read Dan's advice and discover that they aren't weird or horrible, just human like the rest of us.

 

[FergieTCat]

Do you remember the woman who posed as a teenage boy on the internet, befriended her daughter's rival and then bullied her to the point of suicide? I do not believe that she was ever convicted of manslaughter, although the verdict was sought. That was ongoing, deliberate taunting and bullying that lasted for weeks. I believe that a civil, monetary judgement was later brought against her. So no, suicide is not murder by proxy.

I think it will be the Phoebe Prince case that ends up setting the precedent.

 

[aprilgail2]

While it is sad what happened let's remember that this is just a plain old stupid prank that lead to an awfully bad outcome.

Should the kids who did this be punished. Yes. Should their lives be ruined because of it - probably not.

.

God forbid their little lives are ruined---after all its not like they made someone kill themselves or anything!!!! Pleaseeeeeeeeeee...... I hope they both have to serve jail time and Tylers family sues them and their families for all they have!! A PRANK???? It is WAY WAY more than a prank!!!

 

[Magic Mom]

I'm not the person you were responding to, but no, this action does not fit the definition of a prank.

These two young people deliberately, and knowingly, filmed by Web-Cam intimate sexual acts by a third and fourth party without those parties consent. That is illegal and an invasion of privacy. And any right thinking person would belive it to be beyond the pale whatever the sexual orientation of the people filmed.

They then compounded the error by doing a live feed on a second illegal filming. For the sole purpose of humiliating their victims and getting a good laugh.

It is incredibly sad that this lead to the suicide of one of the parties involved, and they may not have been able to predict that. But it was still a terrible thing to do.

Jail for invasion of privacy will wreck their little lives? They just wrecked several lives. Tyler's, the parents who lost their son and his boyfriend's lives. Those two bullying idiots should do jail time. They should also live the rest of their lives in shame because their illconsidered action lead to the death of Tyler. I have no sympathy for them.

I shake my head at people who want to dismiss this as a "prank."

Depending on their their reasoning at the time, it could fit the bill of a prank. I have no idea one way or the other what they were thinking though. Maybe they were just stupidly thinking "hahahah OMG how funny, lt's tape him having sex," without any real thought to the long term impact on the people being taped. BUT it makes no difference whether it was a prank or not. It was still a crime. They deserve to be punished for whatever laws they broke.

If two kids decided to shoot paintballs at a house as a prank, and in the process, inadverdently shot through a window, knocking over a candle and burning the house down, it wouldn't matter if they were originally just being stupid and pranking friends. They still burnt a house down.

It doesn't matter if the tapers just thought it was stupid fun. They still invaded privacy and probably broke several laws. They should be punished AND they should be held responsible in a civil court as well.

 

[alisonwonderland64]

I am totally confused how you can possibly write in one sentence they were "intelligent" people and then in another sentence say "they didn't realize" what they were doing was a breach of privacy!!!!! how can you possibly say secretly taping someone and then without telling them broadcast it to the world! Making excuses for them is sickening.

And yeah I'm sure they were "very nice" people, bullies usually are to everyone except their victims.

Sorry, I didn't explain what I meant by the "they didn't realize" comment very well--obviously it's clear that it was a breach of privacy and I don't think that they possibly could've thought that what they were doing was perfectly okay, but I think at the time they didn't see the severity of what they were doing and realize the repercussions that it would cause. This isn't to say I'm "making excuses," just saying that, while I do think it was bullying, they did not realize that these actions could ruin/end this poor boy's life. Which does NOT make them any less accountable for their extremely disgusting actions.

Also, yes, I am saying that they were supposedly "intelligent" students (as far as I'm aware, they were both AP-level students), but I didn't say that to somehow make excuses for their actions or imply that they're any less guilty. I was just pointing out the fact that for those of us in my community, this news comes as a huge shock, because nobody expected them to do such a horrible thing. This tragic event has made many people from my high school ask if the school district should have had taken more drastic measures to educate students on the importance of tolerance and harmful effects of bullying (since apparently these students didn't listen to the numerous lectures and lessons we already have about it), and like I said before, has left many of us feeling ashamed and embarrassed that our school and town is linked to this horrible crime.

And, as I said before, from what I've been hearing from people who are friends with Molly (who, YES, are obviously going to be biased, but also know more information about the situation than we do), the media is blowing her involvement out of proportion and while she obviously made some BAD choices, she should not be held as accountable as Dharun (for more information, read the description of this facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Molly-Wei-is-innocent/154572921240625?ref=ts ). Now, I'm not saying that I necessarily am going to blindly agree and say she's innocent (because I do think she obviously is at least somewhat guilty for not stopping Dharun once she found out about it), but I think there are facts here that we don't necessarily know and I don't want to go ahead and say "she's totally guilty, throw in her in jail for years!" without knowing the full story, given the gravity of this situation. Again, not making excuses, I just want to have an educated opinion. HOWEVER, I have read/heard absolutely nothing that redeems Dharun's actions, and I think that any level of what he did is absolutely despicable, whether the media is exaggerating or not. While I don't think he deserves to be charged with manslaughter (because there's no way to conclusively prove, no matter how logical it seems, that the suicide was a direct result of his actions), he definitely deserves the maximum sentence for privacy invasion at the least.

Also, I just wanted to say that some of the stuff I've read about this story and comments that people have (not on here, in other sources) has been so racist and insensitive that it's appalling. It's amazing to me how much prejudice this story is bringing out, not only through Dharun and Molly's actions, but our nation as a whole as well. It's truly tragic, and I desperately look forward to the day in which everyone will be treated equally, despite their race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I haven't read all the replies, but I wouldn't consider this a mere prank if someone taped me and streamed it onto the internet. I would be mortified, there is no more extreme invasion of privacy and imo that alone should be increased to a felony charge. The suicide was not predictable but they had to know at the very least it would cause extreme distress. To me a whoopie cushion is a prank, not videotaping someone in the most private of moments and showing it to the world.

 

[beatlesblonde]

This story is so sad. According to this article, Tyler had an idea of what his roommate up to (he thought he was being watched by just his roommate) but it must have spiralled out of control to quick for him:

http://blogs.forbes.com/kashmirhill/2010/09/30/tyler-clementi-turned-to-a-gay-message-forum-for-help-before-his-suicide/