On January 14, 2010, Phoebe Prince, a fifteen-year-old sophomore from South Hadley High School, was found by her little sister hanging in a stairwell that led to her family’s second-floor apartment.

Nine teenagers harassed Prince in the months previous to the incident. According to www.masslive.com, “She endured months of verbal assaults and threats, mostly in school and in person, although some of the bullying occurred on Facebook and other electronic forms.”

North Western District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel charged the nine teenagers with criminal harassment, disturbing a school assembly, and assault with a “dangerous weapon,” a soda can. Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., a Harvard Law professor said, “When a victim reasonably feels threatened by the actions of others, then it crosses the line from normal teenage behavior to a violation of the criminal law.”

According to www.myfoxboston.com, the nine teens that assaulted Prince, “Face charges including statutory rape, assault, violation of civil rights resulting in injury, criminal harassment, disturbance of a school assembly and stalking. Three younger girls face delinquency charges.”

An article on People magazine says that, a sophomore at South Hadley High School said, “She was bullied out of pure jealousy.” Phoebe Prince told a friend on the day before she died, “That she was accused by other girls at school of ‘taking away’ another girl’s boyfriend.” The torment her classmates unleashed on Prince became so vicious that, “She asked to walk between two friends at school.”

Shai Shaird, a student at The High School of Commerce, says that the bullying at the high school is, “Bad, but it’s not life-threatening.” She also said that the students basically “intimidate” them, they make fun of their victim’s clothes, and, “A lot of other times, they just hit them.”

Mr. Gaudreau, an IB English and Theory of Knowledge teacher at The High School of Commerce, says that he doesn’t see much bullying at The High School of Commerce. “It’s more intimidating than bullying,” he said.

Madeline, a student at Commerce says that when a student bullies another student, “It makes the other person seem like they don’t have any confidence.”

Prince’s death, along with Carl J. Walker-Hoover’s suicide, caused Massachusetts to pass an anti-bullying law on May 3, 2010. Governor of Massachusetts Deval L. Patrick said, “We are giving our teachers, parents and kids the tools and protections they need so that every student has a chance to reach their full potential.”

State Senator Michael R. Knapik said, “People say ‘kids will be kids. Well, guess what? Kids won’t be kids. They can’t be taking that approach anymore.”

According to www.nydailynews.com, “A group of parents got together after Phoebe’s death and formed the South Hadley Anti-Bullying Task Force.”

Three of the teenagers, Sean Mulveyhill, Austin Renaud, and Kayla Narey have been ordered to keep away from Prince’s family after skipping court. The nine teenagers have received threats over the Internet.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/03/phoebe_princes_final_day_descr.html
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20360860,00.html
http://www.wggb.com/global/story.asp?s=12285134
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/massachusetts_anti-bullying_bi.html
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/da-to-make-announcement-about-phoebe-prince-suicide-20100329
http://www.inquisitr.com/68188/phoebe-prince-arrests/
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Phoebe-Prince-bullies-live-in-fear-amid-death-threats-90051957.html