Phoebe Prince bullies sentenced, but how do they make things right?
Five teens who faced criminal charges for bullying in connection with the 2010 suicide of Phoebe Prince in South Hadley, Mass., have been sentenced to probation and community service.
While the courtroom chapter of the drama in central Massachusetts is largely over, bullying-prevention advocates hope that the work of 鈥渞estorative justice鈥� has just begun. Now, they say, the defendants should use their experience to help other young people steer clear of bullying and the deep harm it causes.
鈥淭hese are roles these kids play, and we want to ... have them rewrite their own script,鈥� says Barbara Coloroso, an educator and author on bullying. What鈥檚 needed, she says, is 鈥渁ccountability where justice is served for the family and healing takes place鈥� 鈥� rather than either of the two extremes that some in the public have called for: locking up the teens or not holding them accountable at all.
After the teens have admitted they鈥檝e done wrong, the next step in restorative justice is to fix what they can, Ms. Coloroso says. While they can鈥檛 undo Ms. Prince鈥檚 death, they should take steps to remove from the Internet the hurtful comments they made about her, Coloroso says. Second, they should work to ensure they never engage in bullying again, and she hopes they鈥檒l go into schools to do preventive work.
Third, she says, they should privately make some attempt to reconcile with Prince鈥檚 family, when the family is ready. (The court ordered that they not have contact with the family unless the family consents.)
Sean Mulveyhill and Kayla Narey were sentenced on Wednesday to a year of probation and 100 hours of community service with at-risk youth, in exchange for admitting criminal harassment. Sharon Velazquez and Ashley Longe received similar sentences Thursday in juvenile court, and Flannery Mullins was sentenced for a civil rights violation, also in juvenile court. The courts also prohibited them from telling their stories for profit during the probation period.
For some of the teens, their records will be cleared if they successfully complete probation. The charges originally filed ranged from statutory rape to violations of Prince鈥檚 civil rights.
Prince, a freshman at South Hadley High School who had recently moved from Ireland, dated Mr. Mulveyhill, and after they broke up he and the girls directed threats and insults against her, including slurs against her Irish ethnicity. In the time leading up to her suicide, Prince feared being attacked and frequently visited the school nurse or avoided school.
Prince鈥檚 family agreed to the sentences, in which the more-serious charges were dropped, to avoid drawn-out trials, prosecutors said. Another teen, Austin Renaud, has pleaded not guilty to statutory rape and is due in court later this year.
The proceedings 鈥渟ignify that bullying and harassment will not be tolerated in our schools and when it rises to the level of criminal conduct ... those responsible will be prosecuted,鈥� Steven Gagne, Northwestern first assistant district attorney, said in a statement after Wednesday鈥檚 sentencings.
Alfred Chamberland, a lawyer for Ms. Mullins, said in a statement that prosecutors had 鈥渙vercharged鈥� the girls and that the media had unfairly portrayed them as 鈥渕ean girls and bullies.鈥�
Some educators raise concerns that criminal cases are not the best way to address bullying. While the Prince case 鈥渉as helped put bullying and cyberbullying on the educational agenda ..., children are very reluctant to report bullying to adults, and the threat of sanctions may make it less likely they will do so,鈥� says Peter Sommer, head of the Cambridge Friends School in Massachusetts. 鈥淚nterventions really have to be more educational than punitive.鈥�
But others applaud the prosecutors. The comprehensive set of charges was the best approach to prosecuting cyberbullying that she鈥檚 ever seen, says Parry Aftab, executive director of WiredSafety, an online safety group.
On Wednesday, Mulveyhill did not address the court, but Ms. Narey offered a tearful apology, saying she let her jealousy get the better of her. 鈥淚 am immensely ashamed of myself that I allowed my emotions to spiral into acts of unkindness,鈥� she said.
Girls often fight with one another over boys when it鈥檚 actually the boy鈥檚 behavior they should be upset about, says Cheryl Dellasega, author of 鈥淕irl Wars鈥� and a professor in Penn State鈥檚 College of Medicine in Hershey. She鈥檚 helped set up after-school programs such as Club Ophelia, where girls get a chance to do role-playing and talk about scenarios that involve bullying and other forms of relational aggression.
鈥淕irls often don鈥檛 realize [their aggressive behavior] can lead to suicide,鈥� she says. The regret once the consequences emerge 鈥渘ever goes away,鈥� she adds. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 speak up as a bystander ... it shapes you as a grown-up woman.... It鈥檚 a life skill we want to teach girls.鈥�
Ms. Aftab has seen the power of restorative justice in the case of the baby sitter who helped a woman cyberbully Megan Meier, a Missouri teen who later commited suicide. The baby sitter, Ashley Grills, has told other young people how her life changed when she realized Ms. Meier was dead in part because of what she had done. The family forgave her, but 鈥渆very day she feels she has to help others,鈥� Aftab says.
During court proceedings Wednesday and Thursday, Prince鈥檚 mother, Anne O鈥橞rien, spoke about her daughter鈥檚 compassion, humor, and poetry. Her face twisting with emotion, she said how unbearable the loss has been. 鈥淧hoebe tried to be strong, but sometimes people want nothing more than to break you,鈥� she said Thursday, casting a steely look at Mullins, who at one point threatened to beat up Prince and, when confronted by people about it, tried to put the blame on the victim.
During proceedings for Ms. Longe on Thursday afternoon, Ms. O鈥橞rien told the court that during a meeting with Longe, the girl had expressed remorse to her directly. Longe is the only teen to have done so, said O鈥橞rien, who also noted that Longe had expressed remorse in her initial talks with police.
鈥� Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
