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Bullying resulting in suicide - should it be punishable?

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thinkinginpictures
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01 Dec 2014, 5:54 pm

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If bulliers in groups cause the suicide of an individual victim of bullying, those responsible for bullying that individual should all be charged with murder, and should recieve a sentence according to the law of murder, of which apply in that particular country.

If for example, murder gives you 10 years imprisonment, bullying resulting in suicide of the victim, should be subject to 10 years in prison. If murder gives life in prison, so should bullying resulting in suicide. If it gives the death penalty, its also only fair that the bullies recieve the same fate as their victim.

If the victim attempts suicide, but survives, the bullies should be sentenced according to the same law as
that of which applies to attempted murder.



I would like to know, how can one NOT support this position?

Of course one can't possibly know wether the victim is going to attempt suicide because of this.
But that's only that much better a reason for staying away from bullying people at all!

Perhaps such a law could actually prevent bullying from happening, because they face serious charges if the victim does anything to him/herself afterwards.



Last edited by thinkinginpictures on 01 Dec 2014, 6:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sweetleaf
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01 Dec 2014, 6:02 pm

thinkinginpictures wrote:
Quote:
If bulliers in groups cause the suicide of an individual victim of bullying, those responsible for bullying that individual should all be charged with murder, and should recieve a sentence according to the law of murder, of which apply in that particular country.

If for example, murder gives you 10 years imprisonment, bullying resulting in suicide of the victim, should be subject to 10 years in prison. If murder gives life in prison, so should bullying resulting in suicide. If it gives the death penalty, its also only fair that the bullies recieve the same fate as their victim.

If the victim attempts suicide, but survives, the bullies should be sentenced according to the same law as
that of which applies to attempted murder.



I would like to know, how can one NOT support this position?


As much as I think its disgusting anyone would want to kick someone while they are down, it doesn't really make sense to me for it to be considered the same as murder. But I think it should be a charge-able offense to bully someone to that point, then again I am not sure all bullying could be considered a 'criminal' thing really...I mean there probably are little kids that have done that because they didn't know much better and I do not think the law necessarily needs to be brought in.


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thinkinginpictures
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01 Dec 2014, 6:04 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
thinkinginpictures wrote:
Quote:
If bulliers in groups cause the suicide of an individual victim of bullying, those responsible for bullying that individual should all be charged with murder, and should recieve a sentence according to the law of murder, of which apply in that particular country.

If for example, murder gives you 10 years imprisonment, bullying resulting in suicide of the victim, should be subject to 10 years in prison. If murder gives life in prison, so should bullying resulting in suicide. If it gives the death penalty, its also only fair that the bullies recieve the same fate as their victim.

If the victim attempts suicide, but survives, the bullies should be sentenced according to the same law as
that of which applies to attempted murder.



I would like to know, how can one NOT support this position?


As much as I think its disgusting anyone would want to kick someone while they are down, it doesn't really make sense to me for it to be considered the same as murder. But I think it should be a charge-able offense to bully someone to that point, then again I am not sure all bullying could be considered a 'criminal' thing really...I mean there probably are little kids that have done that because they didn't know much better and I do not think the law necessarily needs to be brought in.


There are already existing laws dealing with crimes committed by kids, regardless of the crime they committed.



Magneto
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01 Dec 2014, 6:11 pm

How can anyone support such a position? Suicide remains a choice. Being murdered... isn't.

Most bullying doesn't result in suicide, otherwise humanity would be extinct.



thinkinginpictures
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01 Dec 2014, 6:18 pm

Magneto wrote:
How can anyone support such a position? Suicide remains a choice. Being murdered... isn't.

Most bullying doesn't result in suicide, otherwise humanity would be extinct.


It is a cynical and easy way of preventing bullying. If the bulliers know that it can be proved that they had bullied a person prior to that person's attempted suicide and it doesn't really matter wether it was the bullying itself that caused the attempted suicide (succees as well as failed), they would face charges for murder or attempted murder.

That in itself would be a warning to ANYONE who dares to enter bullying.

With kids exempted from the rule, adults should know that bullying is wrong.

And what is morally and ethically wrong, should be prevented by every possible means neccessary.



trollcatman
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01 Dec 2014, 6:53 pm

For this to make any sense you would have to be able to prove that the bullying was the cause of the suicide. And for murder there needs to be the intention to kill someone, most bullies probably did not intend it to end in suicide (intention is important).
Maybe serious bullying could be similar to a hate crime or something? I think there should also be responsibility for schools and workplaces to prevent bullying. The problem is that stuff like this is so hard to prove, and bullies will probably stay just within the law and still find a way to be nasty to someone.



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01 Dec 2014, 8:16 pm

[opinion=mine]

If a person is bullied at home, and then takes a gun to school and murders his classmates, it is that person who is charged with the crime, goes to trial, gets convicted and sentenced, and spends the rest of his life behind bars. It is not his parents, his neighbors, or society in general that is guilty of murder, since the guilt of murder rests solely upon the person who killed someone.

True, there may be some civil responsibility on the parents' part -- that is why parents get sued in civil court for the actions of their children -- but the law does not recognize criminal guilt if people knew nothing about the crime beforehand, and if they did not directly "aid and abet" the person who committed the crime.

Certainly, if a group of bullies shouted "Jump! Jump! Jump!" as they stood behind someone standing outside a balcony railing, they could be held responsible for the person's death; but if the bullies are not proximal to the suicide (in time or space), then it would be a very difficult case to make that they were somehow criminally responsible.

Suicide is a choice. People who commit suicide murder themselves. They are therefore solely responsible for their own deaths. I simply do not see how anyone could think otherwise.

[/opinion]

Yes, I've known people who have committed suicide. All that I could think was, "What a waste; they had so many other options ..."


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AspieUtah
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01 Dec 2014, 8:58 pm

thinkinginpictures wrote:
I would like to know, how can one NOT support this position?

I can't support it because better laws exist which would accomplish the same result (laws against threat, intimidation, coercion, libel, slander, extortion and assault, among others) depending on the kind of action that is determined by prosecutors to have caused an individual to commit or attempt to commit suicide.


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Jacoby
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02 Dec 2014, 2:55 am

It seems pretty silly and no way could it be enforced in any fair way, what might be hurtful to one person might not mean anything to the next. Suicide is a decision made by the individual, you can't hold anyone else criminally responsible for the decisions made by another. Instead of thinking of ways to punish bullies after the fact, the focus should be prevention and helping the victims. While getting punch or being made fun of hurts, being ostracized in a lot of ways even worse and how can you rectify it? Bullying can come in all different forms.



thinkinginpictures
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02 Dec 2014, 3:06 am

Thanks for the replies. I got the answers I needed. I just could not logically figure out why it was not the way I (initially) wanted it to be, with bullying being punished the same as murder.

I may have been a bit too hard on this issue. I've now come to the same conclusions as Fnord and others in this thread.

Thanks :)

BTW. This should in no way be taken as I accept bullying. To me, bullying is ugly and should never be accepted.