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Bullying and the Law

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In general, I strongly recommend Emily Bazelon’s series about the suicide of Phoebe Prince and the resulting prosecutions. Like Lindsay, my recommendation comes with the caveat that I wish Bazelon had done more to question the victim-blaming she quotes uncritically. Essentially, the argument of people that Prince shares some of the blame comes down to “well, they called her a slut, but she did sleep with a couple of young men other young women had an interest in.” I would hope that for our audience I don’t need to elaborate about sexism that underlies this argument (and Lindsay has already done a great job); let’s just say that at a minimum I wish Bazelon had asked why the men who slept with Prince weren’t bullied. The fact that “slut”-shaming is an acceptable form of bullying is an important point a lot of coverage of the Prince case has missed.

A few other points:

  • Bazelon’s coverage convinces me that three of the prosecutions are not merely problematic but outrageous.    The point at which a run-of-the-mill failure to be nice becomes legally actionable bullying is a blurry one, but even if her name had been mentioned surely “a single mean comment on someone else’s Facebook page” isn’t even close.     The prosecution of Kayla Narey seems like a straightforward abuse of prosecutorial power.
  • This case also illustrates the danger of leaving usually unenforced “morals legislation” on the books.    The state generally would not (and should not) enforce statutory rape laws in cases where a 17- or 18-year old has consensual sex with a 15-year old.    But keeping formal laws against this on the books invites all kinds of arbitrary abuse by prosecutors.    It’s bad enough when these laws are selectively enforced to enhance the punishment of people who can be plausibly charged with other offenses.    But in this case, the laws have apparently been invoked to prosecute someone who couldn’t even been indicted for actual civil rights violations.    Even if he did have sex with Prince (which he denies), Renaud’s prosecution is indefensible.
  • I have less than no use for people who take a “teenagers will be teenagers” approach to bullying.   In fairness, this doesn’t seem to have been the attitude of the school officials in South Hadley, who took the bullying of Prince seriously when informed of it.
  • I will also endorse Lindsay’s bottom line: “Girls joined forces to marginalize and humiliate a younger student, a newcomer with a serious mental illness. However, glaring at someone in a bathroom is not an issue for the criminal justice system; but throwing a projectile from a speeding car at a pedestrian clearly is.”    The case illustrates some areas in which the criminal justice system does have a legitimate role, but also the extent to which a high-profile tragedy can cause prosecutors to attempt to punish ordinary behavior that, while far from admirable and worthy of condemnation, cannot possibly be criminal.
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