Federal prosecutors recently convinced a Los Angeles grand jury to bring completely nonsensical charges against a Missouri woman who allegedly drove a teenage girl to commit suicide in the so-called 'Cyber-bully' case. If Lori Drew, 49, did what she is accused of doing, it was an utterly despicable act, but what law(s) did she break? Those she is accused of breaking -- laws enacted mainly to stop people from hacking into government computers -- do not apply here. In fact, the case they are trying to make against her is a complete misapplication of those laws.
She created a false identity -- that of a 16-year-old boy-- on Myspace (which is headquartered in Los Angeles) in order to harass 13-year-old Megan Meier, but did not hack into anyone's computer. Missouri officials knew they had no basis for prosecuting her and acted prudently by deciding to not bring any charges. The zealous Feds, on the other hand, are so intent on seeing 'justice' done that they are willing to stretch the meaning of their own laws beyond all recognition. Ms. Drew could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty on all charges, but I predict that the case against her will soon fall apart (as well it should). And when it does, she would, in my opinion, have every right in the world to file a malicious prosecution suit against the federal government.
Some would argue that there ought to be laws against the kind of thing she did. Perhaps in this case, there should be, but do we really want to have laws against every rude or spiteful act a person could commit? I know I wouldn't. I would be in big trouble right now (and probably in jail) if such laws were on the books. Just because something is vile or immoral, doesn't mean there should be a law against it, no matter how outraged it may make one feel.
And speaking of outrage, it seems me that many people are very selective with theirs. What if, for example, the victim had been 33 instead of 13? I'll wager that the outrage over Ms. Draw's actions would not have been nearly as intense or widespread. Would we really want to encode this kind of age discrimination into the law? Wouldn't it violate the constitutional principle of equal protection under law?
Besides, we all -- adults, teenagers, and children -- just need to stop being so uptight and just chill out. We all have to get used to the fact that we're going to have to take a little teasing and harassment once in a while. I know I've had to endure some of the most brutal and unmerciful kind of that stuff at times in my life. If one overreacts to it by committing suicide, it is his or her own fault. We need to familiarize ourselves with three magic words: Get over it.
Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Virginia, USA. He posts a least one article a day to his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - on subjects such as current events, politics, technology, society and culture, religion, health and well-being, self improvement, personal finance, trivia, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media. His articles here on SearchWarp represent only a small portion of his work. All of it can be found on his blog. If you like his articles, you'll love his blog.
» left by Kimberly(527) Kimberly (102 days 16 hours ago.)
Hi Terry, I believe what Mrs. Drew did to that child was absolutely reprehensible, but since there were no laws set in place prohibiting such behavior, I am not in favor of her being arrested, while the Feds "look" for some charges. With the world changing because of the computer era, I feel this case should be investigated and new laws set in place. Where I don't agree with you is when you stated, " Get Over It"! This 13 year old girl, was unknowingly pitted up against a 49 year old woman. No telling what was said during their e-mail conversations. I agree with you that we have all had to endure teasing and harassment by our peers, but a 49 year old woman knowingly up against a 13 year old girl, suffering from depression is well below the balance of fairness to me. Sorry, this comment is so long. Kimberly Respond to this comment
» left by Terry Mitchell(1,231) Terry Mitchell (102 days 2 hours ago.)
Kimberly, don't worry about your comment being too long. You had something very important to say and I appreciate your input.
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