Youth commits suicide...

[Ron Whitfield]

...live, on line, while some laugh and chant.
www.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081121/ap_on_re_us/webcam_suicide

What would the charges possibly be, if any, against aiding and abetting this death, of those that promoted it?

Is there any legal clarification for cyber world deaths/suicides?

[tutusue]

Re: Youth commits suicide...

We were on the same wave length at the same time, RW!!!

[turtlegirl]

Re: Youth commits suicide...

(long, drawn out sigh) eehhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm..............

This story is so heartbreaking. When I read about it this morning I felt, well, really really horrible. I did a little research on it, and what I found was really, really, really awful. I was considering posting about it, but I didn't want to be a bearer of bad news here, and didn't want anyone else to feel as badly about it as I do. Even worse, I did some cyber digging and watched a clip of the end of his 'broadcast' when the cops busted down his door to check on him. I wish I hadn't. He was a handsome young man, and I'm so, so, so sorry that this happened.

I'm, not sure how I feel (yet) about all of the people who sat in their homes and watched this unfold, except to say that I wish things had gone differently.

[Menehune Man]

Re: Youth commits suicide...

Over 30,000 people commit suicide every year in the U S of A.
At least he was a little unique about it.

There is such a thing as self responsibility.
If(since) he was that down and didn't choose any other avenue...
so be it. End of story.

[Random]

Re: Youth commits suicide...

...live, on line, while some laugh and chant.
www.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081121/ap_on_re_us/webcam_suicide

What would the charges possibly be, if any, against aiding and abetting this death, of those that promoted it?

Is there any legal clarification for cyber world deaths/suicides?

Define "aiding and abetting" on suicides.

Not to diminish the tragedy that always come with suicides, I just cannot understand the need to make such a spectacle, either to kill yourself in front of your webcam connected to the internet or on top a city building when there are people on the street below. To do so means you clearly asking for helping in a desperate way. You WANT someone to tell you NOT to kill yourself.

But then you went through with it. *scratches head*

[Kaonohi]

Re: Youth commits suicide...

Suicide happens when life becomes unbearable. At least that is our "western" model - seppuku for a samurai had different goals.

Oh yes, I've been close, but always managed to give myself another chance to make it better. Now I know it gets better, and worse, and better, and worse, and the only way you will know if tomorrow is better or worse is to wait until tomorrow.

Our children do not yet know that, and how can we teach them?

I think that if we help them learn that things will always get better, we will help them become suicide-proof. Then we also have to teach them that things will always get worse, too.

To do a suicide on live internet is not a plea for help, it is a plea for recognition (IMHO). It is too easy today to think you are a 'nobody' that no one cares about. And our callous society is too eager to confirm it.

What happened to 'the love generation?' What happened to the 'Spirit of Aloha?'

This frightens me. Not for the individual who was lost, but for the trends in society that engender such.

[sophielynette]

Re: Youth commits suicide...

I would -like- to think that the majority of people watching the webcam didn't realize what was actually going on. I would -like- to think that they assumed it was a prank, a stunt, a show. I would -like- to think that most people don't wish another person to end their life, even if they may say they do. Nobody takes anyone seriously anymore, for fear of being made a fool.

Public suicides aren't a new thing. Suicide in general isn't new. It's just changing with the times, and in the days of broadcasting every bit of your life, webcam suicides fit right in. That's not to say that it's okay, that's not to say that we should turn a blind eye to it, but there's no point trying to blame it on today's youth somehow being different than the youth of the past.