Charge the bullies with manslaughter

[Wasrelaxing]

There is a news story today about a 14 year old who lay in front of a train and was killed. It turns out that a couple, or more, of children knew he was being bullied.
Should this be something that is investigated further and if proved that he was being bullied that the bullies should be prosecuted? (Or however the justice system works if the bullies are children)

Legally I dont think it would come under manslaughter

But I do think they should be made aware by officials that they played a part in the persons reasoning.

Sad as it is you can't hold the bullies responsible for the child's suicide. I don't see how anyone can be held to account for something that happened when they were not present.

Conduct that was grossly negligent given the risk of death, and did kill ("gross negligence manslaughter"); and
Conduct taking the form of an unlawful act involving a danger of some harm that resulted in death ("unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter").

Where there is no intent to kill, the following descriptors define the crime of manslaughter in the UK. Bullying is egregious, but it does not amount to this.

No. The 'bullies' are responsible for their actions and the victim is responsible for their's.

Bullying isn't a crime. It's a loaded word and one side of the story.

No I don't think you can. She made the choice to end her life and you can't say that it was specifically because of bullies. Who knows what was going on in her home life or what other problems she was facing. Most people will face some sort of bullying in their life which is not pleasant but there are ways to but a stop to this kind of behavior. It is obviously very sad and tragic but I don't think what you are suggesting is the correct course of action.

I noticed the school has jumped to immediately say there were no records of the boy being bullied.
I do actually agree that if this child has been made to feel so distressed that he felt there was no other option but to end his life that the bullies be made accountable. I'd imagine they'd be aged 14 plus and so very clearly knew what they were doing.
Fortunately it will come out at the inquest and I hope for the schools sake that they can prove there was nothing on record
Just imagine being the parents of that boy today.....

There are a few cases in US, where bullies have been successfully prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter

there are ways to but a stop to this kind of behavior.

No there isn't, I was bullied throughout my teen years and came very close to ending my life because of it. Nothing stopped it. Now with social media bullies have even more ways to make their victims lives miserable and it should be criminalised. I know a teen girl currently dealing with it, she has a good support network but her bullies are relentless and are everywhere- she can't escape it.

Bullying destroys and ends lives. 15 years later I am still dealing with effects of it, it's only because my mother saw how close to ending my life I was that I'm still here and it has taken years to rebuild myself so I absolutely see how it leads to children ending their lives. The isolation, the terror, hopelessness and complete despair is crushing.

It isnt manslaughter.

@Bruffin but this isnt the US, thankfully, where each state has its own legislation

'allegedly bullied and 'no record of bullying' - at best you have gissip and heresay. There will be an inquest.

*gossip

I think we have to examine the roles of phones and social media in the lives of our teenagers.

There were 177 suicides among 15- to 19-year-olds in 2017, compared with 110 in 2010 and more than in every year since then except 2015, when the toll was 186, the Office of National Statistics data shows.

The rate of girls killing themselves has apparently doubled since 2007 (when a long term decline was reversed).

Can it be coincidence, or some other factor?

I was wondering if our children are not so resilient these days and why that would be.

I don’t think it’s about resilience. Bullying is a terrible thing. No child should feel they have to be “resilient” when being targeted by others. It’s just so much easier to do these days.

@Herculepoirot2 - suicide isnta cause of death - its wont appear on deathe certificates, it will be asphysxiation or overdase, the inquest decided whether it is suicide or not. Suicide has to be intentional, clear cut, not ambiguous or it becomes an open verdict. So suicide statistics are not clear cut.

eg bloke fixed a pipe to his car exhaust and aspixiated. Coroners court did not return a verdict of suicide because there was no note. This enables families to collect life insurance, and gives a crumb of comfort that it was an accident. Suicide still has stigma.

MyOpinionIsValid

Nevertheless, that has always been the case, so it still seems to be on the increase over the last decade or so.

I was wondering if our children are not so resilient these days and why that would be

Bullying is so much more invasive now, social media means it can be incessant, there's no way to get away from it.

Your post verges on victim blaming. We don't need to teach victims to be more resilient, we need to teach bullies not to be utter shits.

FFS @ my typing . When will this site get a spell check ?

They should be held accountable and be made fully aware of what their behaviour generated and caused

Photos , seeing the families grief , a formal debriefing by the police and school

They should have it rammed down their vindictive little throats

But manslaughter , no

May he rest in peace

I think in some, resilience is an issue but the major difference in how teens live now compared with teens of 15 years or so ago is social media and smart phones. Essentially, there is no escape. They can be with you in your bedroom which should be your one safe space in the whole world. Turning the phone off isn’t really an option because they are used for contact with real friends and are a source of support. At the same time, the phone will tell you how to commit suicide.

Does anybody know of any parent groups (Facebook or similar) where parents are supporting/discussing how to avoid giving their children phones even when their peers all have them. I would be interested in joining such a group. I am very concerned by what I have seen in school (ex teacher) and the sheer vulnerability of our young people to the nastiness that can be found in online messaging, groups, photo sharing and so on. I want my child to be phone free until at least the age I was when I got my first mobile phone (17).

@NoBaggyPants OMG most certainly no where near victim blaming. Didn't even cross my mind.
I was thinking more along the lines of why the children feel that suicide is their only way out.

I was wondering if our children are not so resilient these days and why that would be

In the days of yore you could escape bullies in the evening and weekend

Sadly no more it’s 24/7

The combination of bullies and technology is a bad one and things will get worse before they get better

The problem is that bullying is such a vague term and is often a drip drip of horrible things. In my experience there can be someone thats the "leader" but often the bullying spirals so that a lot of children are some how involved. Some of those children may not realise the role they play, or indeed feel able not to participate for fear that the crowd will turn against them. How do we decide which bully is to blame?

If i think of my own bullying. It started with one girl, but then there was a group, i couldnt really tell you what specific things each member had done. They would do things designed to humilate me, other children would laugh. Often other children picked up on the names they called me and would parrot it. I recieved multiple messages from all kinds of sources, and went through some big things eg assaults but its the littler things that i remember and upset me, eg not being invited to things, when the whole class laughed at xyz, the constant snide comments from otherwise lovely kids etc

I dont think you can pin point it to one event, or one set of children. Are you held responsible if you laughed? If your one of the 30 children that shared an embarrassing photo? It may be that the ringleaders have actually last sent an embarrassing photo to one kid months ago or havent actually "done" anything that can be proved (eg if they start rumours, or create lots of fear/intimidation but have never actually been in an altercation)

It reminds me of an inspector calls!

Office of statistics says Female suicide is falling - across all age groups