What should have happened?

Question

***TRIGGER WARNING*** so I'm watching this episode of Dr. phil about the 11 year old boy who committed suicide recently. His 13 year old girlfriend had pranked him and pretended like she committed suicide and had her friend text the boy that it was real. A few minutes later, the 11 year old hung himself and later died due to his injuries. The girl was charged with minor things. What do you think should have happened to the girl? Should she have been charged with his death? Not charged at all?

Accepted Answer

I don't see what good filing charges would do. She obviously will need years of therapy moving forward. I'd be fine with that being court mandated.

Answer

I mean I think she needs some type of punishment but not necessarily being charged with murder. She's going to be living with this forever...she's just a kid...

Answer

She should be charged with manslaughter and be put on probation or sent to juvie for a short period and given mandated therapy.
Whether her intentions were for him to harm himself or not, it was definitely a malicious act. What reaction could she have expected from him other than a deep pain or worse?
Suicide isn't a joke and if she thinks it is she needs some serious help.

Answer

I agree with others that court mandated therapy may be the best course of action here. This is really disturbing though. Why was his immediate reaction to take his own life? Why did he not confirm what happens or go to his parents? It's such an extreme reaction and it makes me wonder what factors would lead him to do that. Further, why did she think suicide was a joke? It's just so tragic and so scary. How could this have been prevented?

Answer

wow how sad.... yes that little girl is responsible because she made him do that... so wrong. 😰 rip

Answer

I'm wondering what makes his mother think the girl pushed him to suicide on purpose. Is she just angry because her son is dead and she wants to blame someone? Or was there something else that hasn't yet been mentioned in this post?

Answer

I saw that. It was horrible. She should have been charged with his death. If it wasn't for her childish stupidity, that boy may be alive today.

Answer

I definitely think she needs years of therapy for this, and this scares the hell out of me. I can't imagine the pain his death has caused for his family. 🙁

Answer

My bigger concern is that the 11 year old boy had a girlfriend that wasn't just someone in his class. I teach 5th grade, that's 11 year olds! Why was he dating someone that had enough impact in him that he killed himself. Why was he dating a 13 year old? That's 7th or 8th grade. That's a huge age gap for their ages... There's seems to be a lot of factors in play here. 1 being the girl was super immature. She should definitely get counseling!

Answer

I feel like 13 is just so young. Obviously this is horrendous and that girl needs to realize the gravity of her actions, but idk. It's hard to say because I don't know anything about either of them. Some 13 year olds would definitely know that this "prank" is not right at all, but thinking back to when I was 13, I can't say that I would have fully grasped something like this.

What should have happened?

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