Posted on 07/26/2010 6:13:11 PM PDT by Ptarmigan
The leak of private information about Phoebe Prince’s mental-health history is part of a “sick” defense strategy that could backfire against the six South Hadley teenagers charged in connection with her suicide, a former prosecutor said yesterday.
Really long and tries to blame the victim. I can see why the South Hadley 6 are challening Joran van der Sloot and Osama bin Laden as the most hated people right now.
Wasn’t Facebook also used in the bullying?
Partly yes. Mostly it was at school.
We can see how the bullies got that way.
But then, it is Massachusetts.
What more need be said.
South Hadley is just a few miles from us. I know people who work in the town, and who have worked at the school.
The story pretty much matches what we’ve heard—outside of the papers.
While the “bullies” certainly are not blameless, their transgressions match a lot of the crap that goes on in high schools these days.
The problem is they picked on a kid with significant problems, and she just snapped.
I think there were a lot of things wrong in South Hadley. But I will bet dollars to doughnuts that none of these kids sees a day in jail.
And calling someone an “Irish Slut” is a real stretch when it comes to depriving someone of their civil rights. Being Irish in South Hadley/Holyoke is like being white in Alaska.
I hope the DA makes sure her name is spelled correctly, because that is what most of this is about.
That only makes it worse for the bullies. What is really bad about this Slate article and Emily Bazelon is that she is shamelessly stomping on a dead girl's body, making money and a name for herself doing it. Poor Phoebe can't even rest in peace, she is being bullied even after death so these criminals can get off for what they did. It's the classic SLUT DEFENSE used in rape cases and they are using it.
According to the D.A., Scheibel went on to state that the story suggests "Phoebe's internal struggles caused her death and it is unfair to hold these defendants accountable for their behavior. As a matter of law, the existence of a victim's disability does not legally excuse the defendant's criminal actions. Under many statutory schemes it serves to aggravate the offense, rather than mitigate it." (emphasis mine)
OUCH!
All those people who leaked confidential medical information have conspired to violate HIPAA and should be prosecuted.
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