i'm only sad that she didn't try to beat their asses; girls, and boys are sooooooooooo bad. we have only parents to blame. these kids have been just like there parents for a LONG time.

People don't seem to believe that demons can take you over, and the only way to defend one's self from such is to place your faith in Jesus Christ and his father Lord in Heaven. God of all. There was a time that this country at least claimed to stand for God "One Nation Under God", now this very nation seems ready to turn its back on God and that will not occur without a hefty price to pay. God be with the Family of Phoebe Prince and help them through this time in there life.

I was so assaulted for being a pacifist that the school administrators literally threw ME out of school rather than punish the 100 kids who assaulted me.

Same thing happened last year. Assshole crook robbed me so the POS NYPD arrested me and the DA protected him and helped him get away with my life savings.

Seriously.

You people need to realize what SELF DEFENSE IS.

Someone touches you you MURDER them.

A politician steals your life savings and you just sit there?

You have the right to self defense.

The NYTimes does false stories about WMDs and murders Iraqis and American soldiers?

You have the right to self defense.

Use it or lose it.

Sad,sad story. Rest in peace, Phoebe Prince.

School administrators are disillusioned and self serving.

I would not want to be a taxpayer in Hadley right now... they will likely be footing the bill for a massive lawsuit. And this is on top of the budget crunch that many small school districts across the country are facing.

Bullying is illegal in Canada.

Why is this not illegal in America

you'd have to make illegal the republican party.

the strong is a lot more tolerated here than the weak.

i'd say let's advocate 'bully the bullies' campaign/work group--think it might work, at least for a little while.

Kids have always been cruel, but I wonder if the current trends in parenting don't provide them with better tools to handle it. I was tormented similarly when I was a teenager. Fortunately, I never entertained thoughts of suicide - I found solace plotting revenge (which I never actually orchestrated) and smoking lots of pot. I didn't go to my 20- and 30-year HS reunions because the wounds never quite healed. My sister doesn't fully understand why I resent my entire hometown so much - she was popular enough that no one did to her what they did to me. But those were the days when kids didn't grow up with peer counseling, play dates, and school psychologists. We were on our own and had to get tough to deal with the crap that got thrown at us. I feel for the family of the young girl who was bullied - and the bullies must pay for what they did - but someone needed to teach her better coping skills.

Honestly, I think a crackdown on bullying behavior might actually do some real good for the *bullies* as well -- the people I know from high school who were like that just continued being like that after graduating, and got stuck with shitty jobs and bad relationships and so forth because of it. I wonder if they wouldn't have really benefited from being given some stern guidance (REALLY stern, if they're going to push it to a criminal extreme) during their more formative years.

Bullying is illegal in Canada.

We need to make this illegal in America.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-03-31/life-and-death-at-suicide-high/

Yes kids are cruel, yes it's horrible what happened to Prince. However ruining the other kids lives with felony charges doesn't seem very right either. This is the same type of shit I saw in high schools, I was even on the receiving end of it. Don't you think other things contributed to her suicide? Moving to another country away from all of her friends and then being part of an American high school where this type of thing takes place plaid a big part.

I went to college near South Hadley. It's in an area called the Pioneer Valley out in Western Mass and it's quite beautiful. I always thought it would be a wonderful place to raise a family, I guess I was wrong.

It's got nothing to do with the area; there are a-holes everywhere.

It just illustrates the point , Get a computer ,learn how to use it a little . Then take your personal problems out of unsuspecting folks like this . It's official, The Internet is the new haven for pussies ! gone are the days when two people handled there beefs the conventional way . (You know face to face ) Now it's easier to go online and start, and spread rumors about people . It's just a pussy way to fight or soothe your problems .

It really doesn't illustrate that point, because -- Gothamist's opening line in this story notwithstanding -- this isn't a "cyberbullying" situation. It was just plain old-fashioned bullying; the linked Times article makes only passing mention of social networking sites and does so only to make the point that most of this activity happened at school, not online.

But bullying in school is boring to write about, so when you read it here you get "cyber-" appended to it, though the list of charges in that first paragraph make clear that it's an inaccurate description. What would those charges supposedly mean? Online statutory r(a)pe? Cyber-bodily injury? Disrupting a school assembly by spamming?

I wasn't commenting on this story in it's entirety Jaycjay . My comment was in regards to the use of the Internet as a tools for bullying someone . Not in relation to this story directly sir ! If she had not been bullied online at the time , It would have been happened sooner or later . The lower class, (i.e. Nerds that were picked on as kids, or currently being picked on, Those with personal problems of their own,Others that are just different, And Bullies) folk that just can't see fit to grow up like normal people and achieve great success .(AKA Bill Gates) Use technology to vent all of there issues on the unsuspecting masses . This young lady was probably a very quiet, shy, type, that was just a little different from her school mates and it worked for her . Hell she got one of the cool kids interested in her she , She must have done something right !

Poor child. I agree that being bolstered by this crowd and her ex then tormented by them was simply more than she could take--I can't even imagine dealing with it as a teen. I don't think I have ever seen an article draw so much universal sympathy (even of the "string 'em up" sort) from Gothamist readers and I am strangely heartened by that.