Phoebe Prince "Suicide by Bullying": Teen's Death Angers Town Asking Why Bullies Roam the Halls

By: Kealan Oliver
Topics: Daily Blotter

(Family Photo)

(CBS)

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (CBS) 15-year-old Phoebe Prince moved from Ireland to Massachusetts, with the promise of a new life. Instead, she took her own life, to escape allegedly vicious bullying, on Facebook, text messages, and in school, and now angry residents of her South Hadley, Mass. community want answers, and punishment for the bullies.

According to The Boston Globe, Prince was relentlessly bullied by girls who called her "a slut," or "an Irish slut." On the day of her death, Jan. 14, Prince was walking home from school when bullies drove by in a car, hurling insults and an energy drink in her direction. Prince kept walking to her house, straight to her closet, and hanged herself.

Photo: Family photo of Phoebe Nora Mary Prince, 15, who committed suicide on January 14.

Tuesday night, Feb. 2, outraged South Hadley residents brought their concerns to the town's Board of Selectmen, according to WBZ News Radio. Some want to know why the alleged bullies are still in school. "What kind of signal are we giving kids at school if some of the bullies are still walking the hallways acting proud," said parent Kathleen Keene.

Photo: Phoebe Prince, 15, committed suicide apparently due to vicious bullying.

But some had other concerns, the station reported, like high school senior Steven Grabowski, who said, "Name and shame these bullies and they will find themselves in the same place that Phoebe was and we will find more families with losing their loved one and more lives torn apart."

The South Hadley police chief told WBZ Radio, "We've subpoenaed records from Facebook, we've subpoenaed web pages from Facebook, hoping to track down perpetrators of some of this criminal threatening."

State representative John Sciback said he expects "there will be criminal charges filed at some point."

Too late for Phoebe Prince.

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by HizRed1 December 5, 2011 7:43 PM EST: I seen Phoebe`s mom on a talk show last night with piers morgan. I also was appauled at the fact that one of the bullies was on the view crying and asking to be left alone. Well,well,well, don`t you think that Phoebe wanted to be left alone? I actually could not belive that she (bully) was actually saying that she was tired of being called names and being judged,tired of other kids and adults saying that they hated her. I personally hope that you go through EXACTLY what poor phoebe went through. How dare those bullies put up the comments they did after her death. "done","she got what she deserved" who are the parents of these BRATS? Thats is where the BLAME LIES!!!!!!!!! We as parents are supposed to teach our children not to judge anyone. To treat others as we would want to be treated, But in reality we do the very same thing. We at ages 25, 35,40,45,supposedly "grow up" to keep doing the same thing."we bully" our neighbors because we don`t like the way they keep their yard. We bully our girlfriends girlfriend because we may think that our husbands or boyfriends are thinking about or having an affair with one of them. IT NEEDS TO STOP AND IT NEEDS TO STOP WITH US!!!!>>>>>THE PARENTS!!!!!!!!! How many more of our children are going have to die or kill before we as parents do something about this. restriction? NO! ,Taking away the cell phone? YES! they can`t spread gossip or text . but really? BEAT THEIR ***** !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!UNTIL THEY FREAKING CAN~T STAND UP!!!!!!!!!!some of you are going to be appauled at my saying that.Honestly, a little ass whooping is a HELL of alot better than having your child be the reason that a young boy or girl is hanging inside their bedroom closet,or laying in a bath tub full of blood. Thank You and God Bless!!!!!!; Reply to this comment


by kano710 March 22, 2011 5:26 PM EDT: To all of those who think that these teens are being charged for her suicide, that's not the case. They are being charged for FEDERAL CRIMES that are in fact ILLEGAL. Such as: statutory rape, violation of civil rights with bodily injury, criminal harrassment, and stalking...yes, stalking. No one knows, or will ever know the exact state of Phoebe Prince's mind, but looking beyond that, what happened to her was horrible and no child should ever have to go through that. The thing that I think is most important at this time is justice. At least these teens that contributed to Phoebe's suicide are still living, even though their lives are not in the best condition, that's a mistake they will have to live with for the rest of their lives, and hopefully, they will realize what a huge impact they had on Phoebe, her family, and her friends.; Reply to this comment


by regina818 October 18, 2010 11:24 PM EDT: Sociopaths always seek and find those who are vulnerable so that when they hurt them, they really hurt them but good. The SH6 went above and beyond what was "normal behavior" of teens ... however, the school officials went above and beyond the scope of denial, avoidance, and even worst they deflected all responsibility onto Phoebe herself. The school officials knew Phoebe needed protection by means of a Section 504 (based on medical records obtained prior to Sept 2009 shcool year and the November 2009 incident). Not only did the school officials NOT protect Phoebe with a Section 504, they also did not submit her name to the SRO so that Phoebe could be watched over.
The school officials need to be held accountable for their neglience that allowed the bullying to continue and left Phoebe feeling that their was no other option. Horribly appalling and throughly disgusted with them all ... then add idiots Bazelon and Bennett to the mix, who decided it was okay to do a character assissination on a young innocent girl, unbelievably despictable pseudo human beings.; Reply to this comment


by bunchomorons June 12, 2010 1:28 AM EDT: It is amazing how many people commenting on this article seem to think the parents weren't paying enough attention, the girl was mentally defective, the web sites should be shut down, why didn't she go to the police, blah blah. Here's who's responsible for this girl's death:
The classmates who literally drove her to suicide, and reportedly gloated about it afterward.
The parents of those classmates for not only raising complete psychopaths, but not supervising them and not slapping the living **** out of them when this behavior was discovered.
And last, but not least, the school administrators for failing to to get those subhumans the hell out of their school and ensuring a safe environment conducive to learning for the innocent kids. These piece of crap kids may as well have been waving guns around, and they should have been swiftly and forcefully dealt with.
It is high time to prosecute and civilly sue the perpetrators, the perps' parents, and the school staff who were accessories--every single time a kid commits suicide from bullying. And the same goes for kids who engage in school shootings (duh, gee, I had no idea Junior had an arsenal of automatic weapons in his room).
Sadly neither suicides from bullying nor school shootings are new, so there's no excuse for you pathetic parents raising (or more accurately, failing to raise) psychopaths, and you pathetic school administrators who treat psychopathic behavior as if it were as minor as cutting class.
Damn, this world is going to hell in a handbasket.; Reply to this comment

by Mike_from_New_Hampshire June 8, 2010 7:55 PM EDT

Forget prosecution, forget the law suits or the firings or all of it. Forget bringing anyone up on charges or jail time. We need to publicly flog these teenagers. Bare back, leather whip, 100 lashes each. And Lot's of witnesses. In fact, you-tube it. That ought to do it. End of bullying. How many teenagers would step out of line if they could be flogged?

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by bunchomorons June 12, 2010 1:38 AM EDT: Good concept, but even public whipping doesn't seem sufficient.

by WindyDal June 6, 2010 1:08 PM EDT

Yes, Merrill, Phoebe had other options, when she had tried through her parents and the school with little done. She could have bought an automatic weapon off the Internet, and taken it to school, and silenced her tormenters where they couldn't hurt anyone else. Perhaps this is what you mean?
Your comments indicate that teenagers cannot learn responsibility, and should not be responsible for their actions. How else are they going to learn, then to be responsible for their crimes? And bullying is a crime.
The true mental illness is with a society that allows the weak to be preyed upon like animals do in the wilderness. Have we come no further than this? Phoebe didn't know how to handle such abuses--and that isn't mental illness---that is a lack of education and overwhelm of pain and fear. The mental illness is with the students who behave in such a way, and a society (school or otherwise) that allows such animalistic behavior. Merrill, what you propose is wrong. Responsibility and empathy is what being a human is all about. The bullies were laughing and proud what they did. They acted no better than cold-blooded murderers or animals--perhaps worse. They tortured another human being to her death.
Shame on you, and on a society so mentally ill as to allow this to happen, and then blame the victim.

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by bunchomorons June 12, 2010 12:58 AM EDT: I couldn't agree with you more.


by addiegee May 12, 2010 5:28 PM EDT: these stupid little pieces of **** have no manners poor girl!; Reply to this comment

by kellll May 10, 2010 12:16 AM EDT

Okay, i'm a fifteen year old girl & this pretty much happened to me, not this severe though. & The school's do nothing about it. I was bullied since the beginning of the school year, till now. & it's at school, through texts, myspace, you name it & it's on the list. My parents called the school numerous times & all they do is say "this is warning" & that doesn't work. They don't do anyhting until someone dies. & a fourteen year old is not the one who should have to die. She was probably a great girl & all because of the school & everybody her life is now gone. which isn't right, at all. & i'm sorry for your loss.

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by HizRed1 December 5, 2011 7:46 PM EST: you are wondeful!!!!!!!!! I know you have probbaly heard this a million times but those bullies? They are in someway jealous.

by donquiojte May 5, 2010 10:27 PM EDT

Yes, this is a tragedy. Yes, 20/20 hindsight gives us all the ability to be experts. In a way we all are, we were at all one time and at that tender age. However wrong the crimes, now matter how terrible the death of Phoebe, juveniles do NOT THINK or behave like adults.

Below is an excerpt from a brief I wrote for a Law Class that pertains to these issues of bullying as well. I know some of this may not be what some people want to hear but this is the direction in which the law will soon be written. Just the facts.

ju?ve?nile (j v -n l , -n l)
adj.
1. Not fully grown or developed; young.
2. Of, relating to, characteristic of, intended for, or appropriate for children or young people: juvenile fashions.
3. Marked by immaturity; childish: juvenile behavior. See Synonyms at young.
n.
1.
a. A young person; a child.
b. A young animal that has not reached sexual maturity.
2. An actor who plays roles of children or young persons.
3. A children's book.
________________________________________
[Latin iuven lis, from iuvenis, young; see yeu- in Indo-European roots.]

As you can see from just reading the definition of a juvenile that you will begin to see that while we are young and are adolescents we are if nothing else immature. Being immature, we cannot reason like an adult. We cannot see or appreciate the consequences of our actions. It is far too easy to be influenced by young and older friends alike in trying to fit in and submitting to peer pressure. Most juveniles are seeking attention and just don?t know who is appropriate for the attention they are seeking.

In 2009 Columbia Legal Services outlined in a detailed report that a juveniles brain while still developing does have a distinct and noticeably different anatomical brain compared to an adult. This reiterates what we have suspected. Juveniles and adolescents do not have the ability to assess risk, assess risky behavior, controlling those impulsive behaviors or reasoning in the way in which an adult would. Based on this new information, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, ?From a moral standpoint, it would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult, for a greater possibility exists that a minor?s character deficiencies will be reformed.?

Should anyone be interested in the Brief in it's entirety, email me donquiojte@gmail.com

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by grievingmom May 7, 2010 6:33 PM EDT: With due respect to Phoebe's parents mother inparticular I would like to say that I am truely sorry for your heartbroken felt loss. I too lost a child to suicide. My son was over 18 however, a young adult with his entire life ahead of him. I would like to say that there have been verifiable scientific studies done that prove that a young person's brain is not fully developed unil the age of 25. With this fact in mind, would this scenario play out any differently if it had occurred in college? At a place of employment? At any number of situations in which children through teens through young adults could be in? My son was doing wonderfull until he allowed people into his life who did not have his (best) interest in their agenda. Ego games and selfish behavior not to mention jealousy eagerly arise regardless of age, gender,race, religion, etc. My son experienced reverse racial hatred and bigotry as he liked a girl who was of ethnic heritage and her close knit racist family would rather see him with her ex boyfriend of her own race that was unemployed and recently out on parole than with my son. He had a good job, worshipped the ground she walked on and would die for her. you might of well say he did. I recieved so many constant harrassing derogatory remarks and attacks after his death that I attributed to egotistical selfinterest, selfishness, and jealousy, and most of these attitudes and remarks came from women over 25 through 60! My comment on this above mentioned comment is this: My dear departed Aunt Lucille had a saying, "Book smart living dumb." I say AMEN Ceil.


by revwarrev May 28, 2010 9:45 PM EDT: With all due respect to this research, this developmental issue has been blown out of proportion, and used as an excuse for bad and even evil behavior.

Phoebe and others in her situation commit suicide because they see no end, and have no hope. Even very young children can act with compassion. Even very young children can learn to respect others. Why didn't these? Pick any number of reasons: "mean" dominates our society, from having "frenemies", to uncivil civil discourse, to reality TV where treachery and backstabbing are lauded. Children from a very young age are raised and "socialized" only around peers, and so children reinforce childish, immature, self-serving behaviour. Parents make excuses, sue schools when their kids are corrected, absent themselves from kids' moral and character development. But the simplest reason is that these kids were not expected to act better than this. The adults around them -teachers, parents, relatives- didn't expect, teach, and demand better behaviour very, very early. There could not have been clear, appropriate, even escalating consequences for their bad acts.

We don't expect adult behaviour of children. That's why kids can't make contracts or get married. Its why they don't get to choose if they go to school or get shots. But to say kids can't act decently, can't be expected to act decently, without real cruelty? Dangerous thinking, dangerous and foolish. If we do not teach, model and expect decent behaviour as children grow, at what age will they magically be mature, compassionate, have self-control? 25? A 25 y/o who hasn't been taught and challenged will not suddenly be a moral, law-abiding adult just because they've hit 25. Children can and will rise to the level we expect, and they will sink to the degradation we allow. God help us if your study is used by court or parents as an excuse.

by Merrill78 May 1, 2010 2:08 PM EDT

I find the loss of this pretty young girl's life as tragic as everyone else.

However I am struggling to understand the feeding frenzy that has developed around the girls and boys that have been arrested on Phoebe's behalf.

If her peers had been committing crimes all along,then there are alot more people who need to be held responsible for what happened.

The truth is Phoebe killed herself. She chose to do so in one of the most indignant ways there are.

She chose to hang herself.leaveing her lifeless body dangleing in a hall where her younger sibling found her.

Most likely when Phoebe's body was found, her face would have been engorged with blood, her tongue may have been swollen and protruding from her mouth, and there would have been blood marks on her face and in her eyes from broken blood capillaries.

Phoebe Prince did not die from bullying. She died from mental illness. Her mental condition may have been antagonized by her peers, but to make believe those students are responsible for her death is ridiculous.

To make such a statement is the equivilent as saying the Columbine shootings were the fault of peers that bullied the shooter. No one rushed to place those children behind bars and blame them. If Phoebe's peers drove her to kill, then the same has to apply in the other cases.

I don't believe either to be true. I believe that Phoebe was a very unstable young girl. Who desperatley needed help that she was not recieving.

In this instance I'm sure that the bullying produced the grains of salt that tipped the scales. However in my opinion there must have been a multitude of prexisting issues that were already leaning in favor of that side already.

Arresting these children now and putting them on trial is not going to bring justice to Phoebe's self-fulfilling prophecy.

Suicide and suicidal behavior are not normal responses to stress; many people have these risk factors, but are not suicidal.

Phoebe's death does not have to be completely meaningless.

We have a great opprtuinty to bring public awareness to mental illness.

Phoebe was a bright,lovely young girl. Who by all accounts should be with us today.

Phoebe Prince's death was caused by illness. As long as we continue to treat mental illness with such predjadice it will continue to take the lives of people who suffer from it.

If the death of this pretty young girl has affected you in any way, then ackowledge the truth behind the cause of her death.

Learn all you can about mental illness. Suicide results in an estimated 33,000 deaths a year in this country. These deaths are preventable.

It takes public awareness and a better understanding of how to recognize the symptoms. The more we learn about this illness the greater potential we have to save the lives of the people who suffer from it.

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by munsonlb15 May 1, 2010 5:13 PM EDT: I am outraged at this comment; in essence putting most of the blame for this tragedy on the victim. As a mother of a bullied child, I find the lack of compassion and understanding reprehensible. That poor girl did nothing to bring such hate and pain upon herself and indeed DID try to seek help from many people at the school as well as outside it. Yes, there are many others to fault for the lack of attention and help that most certainly should have been given to Phoebe Prince. However, that in no way relieves those bullies who drove her to suicide when she could take no more of total responsibility for her death. It is long past time to make these bullies and hateful beings take responsibility and pay for what they've done. A strong message needs to be sent: BULLYING WILL NO LONGER BE TOLERATED IN OUR SCHOOLS! I only hope this takes effect in time to save more kids out there. As we have found out in our own situation, the schools are doing less than nothing to stop this. Again, I am appalled that anyone with a brain or a heart, could in any way, blame Phoebe for the completely unnecessary way that her life was lost. We can only try to imagine how tormented and alone she must have felt at the end of her short life.


by Merrill78 May 4, 2010 1:25 AM EDT: First I want to say that I have a great deal of empathy for what Phoebe Prince went through. For any child having to endure it.

With a great deal of resolution we may be able to take bullying out of the school equation.

what we will fail to accomplish, will be the social status of a child.

What ever leads to certain children being singled out, will be an unfortunate fact for an unforseeable time.

So for arguments sake, lets say Phoebe Prince's bullies stopped the openly abusive behavior against her, due to a law that held them criminally responsible.

What would have changed for Phoebe?

Does anyone believe that if a core group of peers who has identified a child in such a manner, that even though they can not openly torment them they would be less inclinded to influence the total isolation of another student? Will there be fewer peers that will choose to follow that inclination?

From known experiances,I find that to be highly unlikely.

All that being said,who is to be held responsible for the adolocent who can't deal with those things and commits suicide?

Suicide is the most unnatural behavior that any living being can commit to doing.

That fact alone regardless of the whos, what, or why's is my entire reasoning for not jumping in with the lynch mobs who want to hold Phoebe's peers responsible for her death.

I can see that you relate easily with Phoebe Prince, and the way her fellow students treated her.

Even though I took that fact into consideration, I will not allow it to excuse your attempts at demonizing me.

As I stated in my original post,I find the loss of Phoebe Prince to be tragic and senseless.

I stated after that fact that I refuse to force the burden of her death onto the shoulders of her classmates.

Merely to support that belief I reitterated that Phoebe Prince did in fact make the choice to end her life.

I made sure to paint the grim picture of what her younger sister would have seen when she found her sisters body.

I did that so every one who read it would understand that Phoebe did not choose to end her life in a way that did not cause severe trauma to herself.

By ensuring that every one understands that,I am able to do two things.

One is to discourage any other young person who may be considering sucide from following through with those thoughts. To make sure that any misguided romantiscm they may have with the idea,is quickly exstinguished.

The other thing I was hoping to accomplish from it, was to make every one understand that all the things done to Phoebe by her peers,were not nearly
as brutal or violent as what that young girl did to herself in the end.

That sad misguided child took her life by her own hand, she left behind a family and friends who loved her very much.

I blamed mental illness for Phoebe Prince's death. I did not blame Phoebe.

She did have bad things happening to her, things that no one wants to go through. But we all have those difficult moments. We cannot under any circumstance justify suicide.

By blaming those teens for Phoebe's suicide our society will be making the statment that she had no other options. That her situation was hopless.

I refuse to be any part of that message.

I stand by my statement that Phoebe was mentally unstable. That her mental state was the primary cause of her sucicide.

Phoebe had many more options open to her. Killing yourself is unacceptable. There is no justifiable reason for suicide.

If that belief outrages you then that is your problem,as I will make no apology for my stand on this subject.

The only thing I am sorry for,is that you as an adult and a parent would ever entertain the idea that Phoebe Prince's situation was so hopeless that she had no other reasonable choice,but to commit suicide.

As a parent it will be my mission to teach my children that they can endure more then they will ever know possible. That life will have moments of deep sorrow,sadness, and pain. That those desperate hours will try them to their soul, but that they are never alone. That there is always some one else going through the same trial as they are. My children will know there is no such thing,as a hopless situation.


by sodowisky May 11, 2010 3:25 PM EDT: I am in awe at the stupidity of these comments. I'm a third year psychology student specializing in child and adolescent behavior. Yes, depression is a mental illness, one we should all be more aware of. However, it is not hereditary; this poor young girl did not just wake up depressed. She was the victim of an onslaught of verbal and physical abuse that she felt could not be stopped because no school officials helped her. This kind of torture can put adolescents (that's the correct spelling, by the way) into a downward spiral. She did try talking to her parents and to her teachers; at least her parents tried to talk to the school and get the other students punished for mistreating her. Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance, and we can no more control our chemicals than change the weather. However, the catalyst for the imbalance can easily be blamed on the abuse she endured. So, yes, I can honestly say that, in my opinion, had the bullying been stopped sooner, it could have saved Phoebe's life. Therefore, I personally put the blame on not only the idiotic high school children who bullied her, but also on the adults in this situation who clearly did not know how to handle it. In my own high school experience, I was bullied on a daily basis for two years. I suffered a deep depression. When I transferred schools (not because of the bullying, mind you), it was as if I was an entirely new person. I didn't get picked on at my new school; in fact, I was quite popular. I was happier than ever. All it took was getting out of the situation where other kids abused me. I can only theorize that it could have been the same for Miss Prince, had the school officials punished the students who were mistreating her before it got so out of hand. I do not understand how you can say both "blame the mental disease" and "she chose to end her life" in the same breath. If her depression was to blame (as I believe it was), then she really did not choose suicide. Her mental state chose it. She did not picture herself in the unnecessary ghastly way that you portrayed her in your first comment, and probably never thought that her sister would find her. Her body told her that she was hurting, and there was only one way to end it because previous attempts had not succeeded. By the way, the students who were charged ARE in fact criminally responsible for the crimes that they were indicted on--criminal harassment, stalking, assault with a deadly weapon, etc. I didn't see murder on there. The state didn't say those students killed Phoebe, simply that they set up the situation that caused the end of her life. And I fully agree.


by revwarrev May 28, 2010 10:39 PM EDT: Your opinion is inaccurate sociologically and psychologically. It is a myth that all suicides can be prevented. There is no evidence Phoebe suffered from any underlying mental illness EXCEPT that caused by her abuse. Yes, abuse. Phoebe saw no escape, had no hope. Those who should have protected her didn't or couldn't. What you believe about Phoebe may fit what you need it to fit, but there has been NO hint that it is actually true of Phoebe.

Mental illness is a tragedy, a medical tragedy, and it should be treated like any other medical illness. But that is not the tragedy for Phoebe and other victims of bullying. Would it be clearer if they had chased Phoebe into the path of a speeding car? If in panic and fear and blind terror she didn't look both ways before she crossed the street? That's what they did: they verbally tortured her, verbally punched and kicked and pummeled her and drove her into suicide. When they were done, when they heard about Phoebe's death, one of the attackers posted "accomplished" on her FB page. Another wrote, "She brought it on herself."

That these assailants be held accountable is right, proper and morally necessary. Justice for Phoebe, and necessary to the assailants maybe, maybe becoming functioning, moral human beings, instead of monsters in the making.


by sydneyaretha June 11, 2010 11:18 PM EDT: Disagree!!!! She died as a direct result of bullying. Had she been welcomed by the student body and teachers/administrators with open arms and not been given a hard time from the beginning and treated respectable, she would still be here today. Those students do need to be held accountable for their despicable actions and mob mentality which were clearly the result of jealousy of a pretty girl who drew the attraction of popular boys. If Phoebe was your child, I have a feeling you wouldn't have been so graphic in your post, let alone blaming your child.

That would be like someone pushing a person in a wheelchair down the stairs and that person dying as a result of that push. In that case, I'm sure, in your way of thinking, it would be the person in the wheelchair's fault as they are the one with the disability. Mental illness is a disability.

Your entire post made me livid!


by bunchomorons June 12, 2010 12:57 AM EDT: OMG Merrill78, it makes me want to vomit that you are a parent. God help your kids. You are incredibly naive and irrational. 999 out of 1000 teenagers ever born have considered suicide; this is not due to mental illness, it's due to being in a state of hormonal and social turmoil, not yet having learned coping skills, lacking support, having very little control over your life, and not seeing any way out of your suffering. Your attitude is bizarre as hell. And your freakish delight in visualizing the graphic horror of her death makes me truly question your own mental health. Honestly, I feel very sorry for your children. I pray to God none of your kids ever go through any similar agony of feeling hopeless, as this girl went through, because your incomprehensible lack of empathy and common sense will certainly cause them to feel they can't turn to you for help. ***. You are a heartless imbecile.