Looks like a judge has decided it actually *is* a crime to relentlessly urge someone to kill themselves - something certain posters on this forum should probably take note of.
TAUNTON, Mass. — A young woman who sent a barrage of text messages to another teenager urging him to kill himself was found guilty Friday of involuntary manslaughter in a case that many legal experts had expected to result in an acquittal.
The verdict, handed down by a judge in a nonjury trial, was a rare legal finding that, essentially, a person’s words alone can directly cause someone else’s suicide.
The judge, Lawrence Moniz, of Bristol County Juvenile Court in southeastern Massachusetts, said the conduct of the woman, Michelle Carter, toward Conrad Roy III was not only immoral but illegal. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
de officiis wrote:I think what she did was despicable, but I don't feel qualified to comment on whether it met the state's legal definition for manslaughter.
I wonder if Jim Jones would.
"She had yellow hair and she walked funny and she made a noise like... O my God, please don't kill me! "
It seems to me (as someone who would have no clue whatsoever) like a fairly pivotal case. I mean, we haven't had an over-abundance of people trying to get other people to kill themselves online, because it's a fairly new threat/behavior in our society. Think of it like the drug war, which is a huge deal now but 100 years ago Americans would've had no concept of it. As we move forward there are going to me *more* cyber-harassment type crimes, not fewer, and we're watching the foundation of how those crimes will be approached and prosecuted right now, in real time.
I am pretty sure you would have to show that the defendant knew the victim would likely commit suicide. There would have to be intent. Just telling somebody to kill themselves would not be enough. So kill yourself already.
