>>>
case where a teenager took her own life after months of bullying and harassment.
>>
reporter:
south hadley high school
is in a
massachusetts
college
smunt known for good schools. but today people are asking, why the
school
failed to protect one student from being tormented to death by several others. 15-year-old
phoebe
prince, an
irish immigrant
, was found by her
younger sister
hanged in a closet in her home. she
committed suicide
after months of what prosecutors called unrelenting bullying that became intolerable.
>>
from information known to investigators thus far, it appears that
phoebe
's death on
january 14th
followed a torturous day for her in which she was subjected to verbal harassment and threatened
physical abuse
.
>>
reporter: now, nearly 11 weeks after her death, nine teenagers, including a
group
of girls, have been indicted and charged with stalking, criminal harassment, and violating
phoebe
's
civil rights
. two boys face charges of
statutory rape
. on the day of her death, authorities say the bullying followed
phoebe
from the halls of the
high school
and into the streets as she made her way home. at one point a can was thrown at her from a car. it may have been the
final straw
. authorities speculate
phoebe
was targeted because she was the pretty new girl at
school
. she had gotten attention from a popular football player and one of the alleged tormenters was jealous. despite pleas of help from
phoebe
's parents, she was harassed on facebook, her
cell phone
, but mostly at
school
.
>>
phoebe
's harassment was
common knowledge
to most of the
south hadley high school
student body
. the investigation has revealed that certain faculty, staff and administrators of the
high school
also were alerted to the harassment of
phoebe
prince before her death.
>>
reporter: experts say it's painfully familiar.
>>
we consider it a right of passage, and everyone says it's just bullying, it's words, who cares if somebody shoves you into the locker. but we're now seeing more and more teens who are taking their lives as bullying becomes constant.
>>
reporter: sadly, even after her death, officials say
phoebe
's bullies persisted sending disparaging remarks to her facebook memorial page. an unthinkable last torment. for "today," rehema ellis,
nbc
news, new
york
.
>>
dan abrams
is
nbc
's chief legal analyst and dr.
susan
lipkins is a bullying expert and the founder of realpsychology.com. i saw you both shaking your heads. it is just incredible what this case makes us feel. dan, how unusual are
criminal charges
like this in a case like this?
>>
pretty unusual. generally this is dealt with in
civil courts
, meaning generally even when something this horrible happens, the family will sue the
school
or the individuals,
et cetera
. what this prosecutor is saying effectively is this conduct was so egregious that they went in to the
criminal code
effectively and figured out what possible crimes could they charge any of these teens with, and they went through and they said, criminal harassment, stalking.
>>
violating of
civil rights
. two male teens have been charged with
statutory rape
. but does that mean if in fact they went into the statute to find if they could be charged with any possible crimes that it may be a
fishing expedition
to actually find them guilty?
>>
it is a fair question, except that prosecutorial discretion is pretty wide, meaning prosecutors have a lot of options as to what they can do and what they can't do. in this case the prosecutors decided we're going to go by the
letter of the law
. we are convinced that we'll be able to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt
each and every one of these crimes. but with regard to the question of does this happen very often, even in this type of case, the answer is, no. definitely an aggressive prosecution here but not farfetched.
>>
talk about the psychology of this,
susan
. people might wonder what is going on in the mind of a
young girl
going through all of this and that makes her so vulnerable, especially when we find out that the
school
officials had been talked to by
phoebe
's parents and the situation did not change.
>>
well, i think that we don't have a
school system
which really addresses bullying and from the top-down, all the way from the superintendent to the custodian and all the parents, all the faculty, and all the students are bystanders who can have the power to interconvenieintervene and change the
system
. we see there is an increase in the violence and sexuality of the bullying that's going on.
>>
i know, dan, that those in
massachusetts
, a law has come out of
phoebe
's death and this law would require
school
officials to report what?
>>
remember, it came after the fact so they can't apply it now to this incident. what effectively it is saying is, if
school
officials know of bullying that could be criminal, meaning the very crimes we're talking about here, they're required legally now to report that to the authorities. a lot of people here are saying how did the authorities know? why did it take them so long to realize that this is a real problem? why did it take her death? what the legislature is saying is, we need to force the
school
official, not just ask them, not just request, but force them.
>>
that's just in
massachusetts
.
susan
, you say that bullying is on the rise. you also make a link to what seems to be an increase in our
popular culture
where sort of meanness, reality programs are everywhere you look, it is kind of okay, we shouldn't get ruffled when there is a degree of meanness. is this idea something -- is this the kind of fall-back that other
states
might want to consider?
>>
well, yes. i consider it
vulture culture
. we see that in the
reality shows
and a lot of television and media which is reflecting our reality that we're increasing people's -- the way that they react, meaning that we're actually showing them how to be demeaning and how to be degrading and how to bully. that's part of what the media is doing.
>>
are you saying this is causing a reason for the rise?
>>
i think the reflection back and forth, when you see it on "
gossip girl
" or "
american idol
," we're sitting around with our parents and it is okay to be degrading, we are implying that it is okay.
>>
i think it is much more disconcerting what happened at the
school
than it is to sort of look at the media at large. i'm not saying that we can't and shouldn't, but the fact that
school
officials -- remember, some of this bullying occurred in front of people who worked at the
school
.
>>
but i would say, having -- and you know having covered these kinds of stories before, that this is not -- this has
happened before
.
>>
it has.
>>
that other
school districts
have witnessed and said, oh, these are just kids. they go on with their mission in life. so the question is, if parents aren't stopping bullying, because they feel it's helpless, and the
school districts
are not stopping bullying because they feel helpless, is it time this
country
has deeper laws? really makes it criminally liable to bully a child in
school
?
>>
i think we'll see as we see more of these incidents, we'll see legislatures respond. that's what leads to changes in the law. it is events like this that spur legislatures to say we have to say, enough is enough.
>>
dan abrams
, so much.
susan
, doctor, thank you so much
“ ”