In 2010, gay Rutgers student Tyler Clementi committed suicide by leaping off the George Washington Bridge after learning that fellow student Dharun Ravi had used a webcam to record him kissing another man. The case thrust the bullying epidemic and the suicide trend among gay teens into the national spotlight. Now, Ravi, convicted in March of "bias intimidation and invasion of privacy," has been sentenced to 30 days in jail, far less than the maximum of 10 years. The judge ruled that, while he believes Ravi acted out of "colossal insensitivity," he does not believe that "he hated Tyler Clementi." In addition to 30 days in jail, Ravi must pay more than $11,000 in restitution and will serve three years of probation. Is the punishment fair?
It's too lenient: We have opposed the maximum sentence for Ravi, says Steven Goldstein, chair of New Jersey-based LGBT advocacy organization Garden State Equality in a statement. But we also opposed the opposite extreme: No jail time at all, which is what this 30-day sentence essentially amounts to. While Ravi wasn't perhaps directly responsible for Clementi's suicide, his actions and words did "broadcast anti-gay animus to Tyler Clementi and the world." This was not "merely a childhood prank gone awry." And Ravi hasn't done enough to atone for it.
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