Reigniting the debate over teenage bullying, Slate's Emily Bazelon argues that the widely publicized suicide of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince last January was not the clear-cut "bullycide" that prosecutors and the media have made it out to be. Bazelon reveals that Prince was depressed and troubled — and had already attempted suicide — before the bullying started at Massachusetts's South Hadley High School. While some of the teenagers accused of hounding Prince (and taunting her with slurs like "Irish slut") were unquestionably cruel, not all of them were, says Bazelon. Is this a case of teenage evil, or an overzealous prosecutor? (Watch a local report about the Prince case)
Adults are blaming kids for their own failures: Nothing excuses "slut-shaming," says Anna North in Jezebel, but the bullying appears to have been "far less organized and far shorter in duration" than District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel claims. Are the tormentors being punished for their own actions or for the school administrators' failure to help Phoebe after her mom told them she "had suffered bullying in her native Ireland and was on antidepressants"?
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The Nutcracker: English National Ballet's reboot restores 'festive sparkle'The Week Recommends Long-overdue revamp of Tchaikovsky's ballet is 'fun, cohesive and astoundingly pretty'
-
Congress reaches spending deal to avert shutdownSpeed Read The bill would fund the government through March 14, 2025
-
Today's political cartoons - December 18, 2024Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - thoughts and prayers, pound of flesh, and more
