So another woman was also involved in the Megan Meier case

Prosecutor won't bring charges in MySpace suicide

That's two adults who acted immaturely when they conversed with the depressed 13-year-old over MySpace, leading to Megan Meier's suicide, saying something to the effect of the world being a better place without her. The second woman hasn't been named. The prosecutor would obviously like to bring some justice into this case, but harassment statutes for the area don't include online harassment and the stalking statute would require repeated negative contact. Apparently the account used purported to be a 16-year-old boy named Josh, being homeschooled in a nearby town, but was used by a former friend's mother and this 18-year-old to determine if Megan had gossiped about the daughter. Megan was confused by the sudden change from flirting, good interaction to 'Josh' turning on her and saying he'd heard she was mean and didn't want to be her friend.

There's no way to prove that the adults involved intended for the girl to kill herself, even if they knew she was severely depressed. Name-calling isn't really illegal, and there's really no way to prosecute it, authorities said. It just wasn't feasible to try to prove to a jury that there was malicious intent to the degree believed by the parents.

I believe that what the women did was wrong. It was terribly petty and immature and they should have been above taunting a 13-year-old girl with mental problems. I mean, what kind of person does that? There should be a small circle in hell for such people. But I agree that there's really no case and so there's no real justice either. On the other hand, I don't think you can blame Megan's suicide squarely on these women. There were a lot of factors, mainly her own brain chemistry and the tendency for teenagers to magnify any slight. She's not at fault for her suicide--she was far too young and too sick to truly be accountable, but she's certainly a victim of her illness, and that's very sad. The women involved, however, triggered it, as did no doubt her mother, who when shown the exchange berated her daughter for using bad language rather than taking her side, at which point Megan stormed off unbelieving and then she was found hanged a little while later. It must have seemed like a betrayal in her mind. That's the sad thing about depression--no matter how much you watch what you say, you know that at any time something might percolate through the depressed person's mind to make them give up entirely. By all accounts the parents were trying to do the best for their daughter. Perhaps given time she could have blossomed. But she didn't have that time.

This whole story underscores the toll mental illness--particularly mental illness in children--can take on people and their families. And vindictive, petty neighbours certainly don't help.

A town responds to a sad event

MySpace suicide town outlaws online bullying


Town Will Punish Cyberbullies: Officials Respond to Young Girl's Suicide

My understanding from one of the comments by 'LiquidBlue2' on the ABC News article is that there is already federal legislation in place that deals with online harassment. It is section 113 of the latest Violence Against Women Act, signed in 2006. For a discussion of the act and controversies regarding this provision and its free speech issues, see: Does New Cyberstalking Law Criminalize Free Expression?

Anyway, after Megan Meier's suicide the town, not finding a law under which to prosecute the adult (identified in police records and on the Internet as Lori Drew, according to the Wikipedia article and a police report you can find at The Smoking Gun)--who apparently pretended to be a 16-year-old boy to gain Megan's trust, flirting with her and then abruptly turning on her with vicious comments that led to the suicide--created their own against cyberbullying, although it wouldn't be used in this case, of course. The woman is the mother of a former friend of Megan's and has stated that she was just trying to see what things Megan might be saying about her daughter and that it was a joke and the Meiers should 'give it a rest'. The Meiers commented in one of the articles that the friends and parents of friends who knew Megan knew she was suffering from suicidal depression and that it was 'no different than somebody handing her a loaded gun'.

It's very sad that a vivacious 13-year-old would hang herself because of some petty comments put on a MySpace page. But as those of us who have been both 13 and depressed know, things that might inspire resiliency in some can seem very large indeed when you're in that mindset. What boggles my mind is that any adult in their right mind would act this way over a falling out amongst children. It's possible she has had remorse over her actions, but I couldn't find any evidence of it online. Of course, many of the news sources refuse to identify her supposedly to protect her child. I wouldn't want to live down that sort of thing if I were her daughter, but I don't think it should be hushed up, either. Drew was 'outed' by bloggers--here's one's description as to why, which I agree with--and there have been several unpleasant 'hoaxes' played on her that I suspect she does not find a joke at all (and in some cases, she's blamed the girl's father for them in the police reports). (Read the Wikipedia article for more information). Certainly I'm sure everyone in town knows who did what. I would not in any way condone actions against her (other than prosecution under the VAWA Act), but this story bothered me enough to do a little research and find out more. It's sad that it's so petty, and that a young girl with her whole life ahead of her died because of such pettiness. At least in this Missouri town, maybe they can make cyberbullying a little less likely.