Cyberbullying Continued After Teen's Death

(CBS)  Police are investigating whether cyberbullies contributed to the suicide of a teen in the Long Island, N.Y. town of West Islip. The nasty messages continued to show up online even after her death, reports CBS News Correspondent Jeff Glor.

Soccer star Alexis Pilkington, 17, took her own life March 21 following vicious taunts on social networking sites -- which persisted postmortem on Internet tribute pages, worsening the grief of her family and friends.

Alexis' parents downplayed the role the Internet played in her suicide, saying their daughter was in counseling before she ever signed up with FormSpringMe.com, a new social networking site, where many of the attacks appeared.

However, Glor points out, the incident underscores the growing trend of cyberbullying.

A bill aimed at preventing it is now being considered in Washington, D.C. It would make electronic communication intended to coerce, intimidate or harass a federal crime.

Fifteen states have such laws, and Massachusetts is considering one.

Among kids, Glor notes, a whopping 42 percent say they've been bullied online.

And the relentless taunting has helped push several of them over the edge.

One of the highest profile cases of cyberbullying was that a Missouri teen, Megan Meier who, authorities charged, was driven to suicide after taunts from her classmate's mother.

After years of bullying, Vermont eighth-grader Ryan Halligan took his own life in 2003 when a rumor about him spread across the Web.

His father, John Halligan, says it was "like a feeding frenzy. Kids who normally didn't bully got in on the fun, both at school and online."

In Massachusetts, fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince and eleven-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover took their own lives after unrelenting bullying pushed them over the edge.

Teenage bullying has taken center stage in the Massachusetts state house, where lawmakers are considering tough anti-bullying legislation that would require publicly-funded school administrators to take action against bullies. The legislation takes particular aim at cyberbullying over cell phones and the Internet.

Krysten Moore is a 20-year-old former Miss Teen New Jersey who knows first-hand the toll that cyber-bullying can take. She endured merciless harassment for much of her teen years and is now speaking out, trying to empower other young people. Ross Ellis is the founder of Love Our Children USA, an organization committed to ending violence against children and helping parents protect their children from bullying. On "The Early Show" Monday, they discussed increasing efforts to crack down on cyberbullying and make teens aware of it:


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[Emily_Vaughan03]

Everyone please join my group on Facebook, it's called Stop Bullying! <3
Everyone that's already in my group can really use the support, everyone has their own stories, & now it's time to get it all off your chest. We don't judge in this group & we all give advice & help others with their experiences.
Society is getting ridiculous! Treat others how you want to be treated! No one desreves to be treated like ****, everyone deserves to be happy. Stop making people feel bad about themselves & making their lives Hell.
This group is for anyone who's ever been bullied & for anyone who wants to help STOP bullying. So if you do...n't want to help stop or you just don't care, leave the group then. This world needs a change, NOW.
Do you know what bullying does to some people? Some people commit suicide, cut themselves, become depressed, hurt other people, turn to drugs & alcohol, etc.. It hurts to see what people do to themselves because they're because of other people's words & actions, be the bigger person! Take a stand against bullying!

Here's a link to my group: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/294038563969155/

You have to log into your Facebook account to see the page, & you can't post anything in the group unless you're a member, I don't even decline anyone in this group. The only way you can get kicked out of the group is if you post or comment something negative in the group. I don't tolerate when people bring up religion, race, sexuality, or anything like that, so please don't bring that kind of stuff up, & PLEASE join my group..

[dresia]

Anddddddddddddddddd, may I also add, that my sister and brothers along with me were bullied in school, from elementary, through high school, but we had the confidence to carry on, because we know self, and we remember, that others are mean and don't know any better, haven't been taught respect, pity them, they need help bad people and we as a family conforted each other when we needed to get our bad day off our chest, we felt free to cry with each other. If a family's not there for you, and you continue to be bullied in school, this will break someone and yeah, killing themselves is the way out. Depression is no joke and it's easy to get sucked into it. There should be some type of penalty and I hope one is pasted, about inconsiderate children who bully others. If I were in charge, my sentence would be stiff and that inconsiderate child will never bully another person again.

[dresia]

I like that, what ToolMangler1 mentioned, what goes around, come around.

Now let me say this, the schools need to bring relgion back number one, they got condoms to pass out,why not the Bible? this is where you will grow and learn not only to appreicate other's but animals and other life forms too.

Second, the parents need to honestly and truly teach their children how to respect themselves, and their fellow man. Not to make fun of someone else because of thick glasses, big ears, a birthmark, big eyes, what ever the case may be, whom are or is anyone to laugh and make fun of another person's downfall in what ever shape or form. What kind of human being are people or anyone to do such a thing. Parents, need to teach their children, that there are rude and unprofessional people in the work place, as well as schools that will mock and make fun and say mean things about someone and or turn people against people for no reason at all. Warn them about these kinds of people but also teach your children, you are beautiful in my eyes, no matter what someone else thinks or say, you are special and wonderful and the sight of God and it doesn't matter what man, your so called friend, associate thinks about you, teach them God sees your heart and he loves you and so do we, (your parents) so always look at yourself in the mirror and say, I'm beautiful, there is nothing wrong with me/you, I have a good heart and I know what I'm made of and I won't let the Devil win and pat yourself on the back and keep going. Most important piece of info, the parent, brother and sister, should ALWAYS, ALWAYS be there for their child, sister and brother unconditionally and with much love and patience. This along will bring confidence and healing to the one being abused.

Now if anyone reading this comment is a bully, you better stop while you are ahead because you are surely piling up your conseqences in a basket. The Bible is true to it's word, you will REAP, what you SOW, and trust me, you will look back and remember what you've done to hurt another human being.

[karlee25]

It is not just cyber bullying, It is bulling in all forms. Just Friday Noveber 11 2011, 10year old Ashlynn Conner was found hanging by her sister. She commited suicide. she was pronounced dead at 8:51 pm this is in the tiny town of Ridge farm IL. Her funerual is wed the 16 of nov. 2011. This was a beautiful little girl with her whole life ahead of her. 10 years old is to young to die all from bullying...with the school system having thier hands tied to dissapline children. This is not going to stop until we as parents get more involved in the school and the childs life. Most parents leave it up to the teacher and expect them to take care of the things in school.

[ToolMangler1]

If you are chained over a fire that keeps getting hotter and hotter and there is a knife within reach of your hand, "JUST HOW LONG" are you supposed to suffer the pain before you stop the pain by killing yourself???????
Some feel that is the only refuge from bullying...


To carry my thoughts to another level I have a "but for the Grace of God, there go I", for you. As a adolescent I was small and had thick glasses and a weird last name. I was also a stranger in a strange land. During my ninth-grade I was involved in at least one fight a week. This came to a climax with a fortunately happy (For me) ending when the local Football jock (8 inches, 100 lbs) bigger and stronger than I tried to show off for his girl-friend and started picking on me. I endured about two minutes of this when something snapped and I 'swarmed' him. I jumped forward ,punching and hitting in every way I could. he knocked me down repeatedly but each time I came back for more. I do not remember any feeling at the time except for anger and rage. I truly was not sane at that point. Finally He got me under control by straddling me with his knees on my arms and started talking to me. "If you will stop, I will stop!" over and over until it sank into my thick skull and I stopped. He then said something that was like music from heaven. "if you will except my apology, I will make sure that 'No one else will pick on you in this school".
He is dead now (Korean War) but I will never forget his affect on me that 'one' day I decided to die rather than endure anymore. I am not a 'little boy' anymore. my skills serve me well and I have and will provide for my great-grandchildren the same valuable lesson I learned at a huge turning point in my life. I am so glad I didn't have to lose it all to learn.
Children today are not being taught the core values that we were, Religion has been banned from school, corporal punishment (no matter how light) will get you arrested and defiance of authority is preached in most of the songs and music of todays youth. Today, without the upbringing I had as a child, I might well have been a 'school shooter or bomber'. Remember, "what goes around, comes around"...

[kimmyj43]

I am 47 years old and I was bullied as a child. I was a pretty homely kid and very shy which made it easy for others to pick on me. I must admit that I let it get to me because I wasn't taught how to deal with it. I'm a much stronger person now and not quite so shy. I have 4 children who are now grown except for my daughter who is 16. She had the good fortune to be a beautiful child with very good self-esteem, unlike her mother. My boys are all handsome and well-adjusted as well. Whenever they would come to me and tell me that some other child had said something ugly to them, I told them to tell that child to get a life and grow up and leave them the hell alone. They would also tell the bullies that the only reason they picked on people that were smaller or more shy or less attractive than these people THOUGHT they were is because they were just mean and ugly on the inside and that they felt sorry for the bully. Also I told them to just laugh it off and if it made them feel bad they needed to let someone know about it. I sure wish my parents had been that supportive when I was little. I'm not bitter about it or anything but it IS a miserable thing to go through. I wouldn't wish that on any child. :(

[scorchio526]

i think that if parents really want to protect their children from emotional trauma they ought to check this out

http://learnthenplay.com/

[toxictopix]

This has been a repeat occurrence on the website Topix whose unmoderated anonymous forums have been a destination for cyberbullying, cyber stalking and defamation for years. Hiding behind its news feature which pulls in stories from legitimate journalists, Topix allows people to comment on news but in reality people just say what they want about who they want. Thousands are complaining and few are getting satisfaction.

http://toxictopix.********

[sillymuffins]

And I agree, TOPIX IS HORRIBLE. It is full of ignorant comments about racism, religion, etc. There is absolutely NO MODERATION. Just because you can see someone's location does not make anything better. I've been on Topix for a while before and God, hatred is EVERYWHERE. You say something, the responses against you, especially if you're known to be a particular race, have a certian belief, etc, will be plain rude. Especially because you can anonymously post. You can't take a serious discussion on there serious.

[sillymuffins]

Are you kidding me? This is ridiculous. Suiciding over something said through the internet anonymously through FORMSPRING? It's one thing to get bullied psychicially in REAL LIFE and suiciding but it's another to take words from people online who you don't even know so personally that you just can't handle it to the point where you just have to take your life... Nobody should blame the bullies for the victims taking THEIR OWN LIFE. After all this article states that 42 percent of kids say they've been bullied online, you don't see all those 42 percent taking their lives. It's all about how you response to bullies. THESE KIDS COULD HAVE TURNED OFF THE COMPUTER A BUTTON AWAY, but no, they didn't choose to do that. They made a formspring knowing that they will get hate stuff from people, seriously, you can't expect EVERYONE TO LOVE YOU. There are people out there who dislike you, this applies to EVERYONE in the world. I don't feel bad for the kids who suicided. I only feel bad for their stupid responses to the bullies by suiciding. Everyone has a right to be rude. That is why people need to learn to IGNORE.

[lkrause74]

Are you friggin kidding me? Do you have ANY clue what it's like to even BE bullied? No one expects to be loved by everyone but still, these bullies need to learn to grow some friggin compassion for others. They dont have to love everyone but if they dont like someone, it doesnt give them the right to bully/tease that person. Get real. Maybe the parents of these bullies need to have done a better job at raising their children and taught them some compassion.

[debbie1120]

The bulling is not just on the internet, it happens in schools and public outings as well. Yes you can just turn off the computer, however, the bullying doesn't stop. I find the only way to put a stop to being bullied is to stand up for yourself. Bullies are just insecure themselves and they feel better making someone else feel as bad as they do.