For all you MySpace and FaceBook users...

[KnoxVegas]

..a few words of caution:

Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.

Teen's parents say she thought she had made a friend through the social networking web site MySpace.

Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/17/internet.suicide.ap/index.html

A family has been destroyed over this but for what reason? I have one small son and another due next month. This world gets scarier and scarier by the day.

[Gvlax]

It says there are no laws against this on the books but you can believe with the attention there will be something on the books soon.

[BucLax13]

Antidepressants can increase in suicide... especially in adolescents, right?

There might have been some major family issues?!

Although the myspace thing is weird and probably caused some trouble, I don't think it is the real issue... a 13 year diagnosed with depression does...

They really reach for sensationalism these days; what shoddy journalism!

Most important, mothers that act like adolescents (fake myspace pages) need to be held accountable. I don't think they should make a law against that stuff because the ultimate responsibility lies on the the parent to protect their own kid (I would never trust the government to protect them for me), but they should have grounds for a civil suit since she did contribute to an individuals death... maybe like manslaughter or gross negligence?

[sohotrightnow]

Care to share how you would go through a negligence analysis in this case? Or for that matter, how you would file a civil manslaughter suit?

[BucLax13]

Involuntary manslaughter, sometimes called criminally negligent homicide in the United States, occurs where there is no intention to kill or cause serious injury but death is due to recklessness or criminal negligence.

Negligence consists of conduct by an individual which is not reasonable — that is, the individual did not act with the care and caution of a reasonable person in similar circumstances. This "reasonable person" is an abstraction, reflecting the standard of conduct which society wishes to impose. Violation of this standard may lead to civil liability for the consequences of the negligent behavior.

Negligence rises to the level of criminal negligence where the conduct reaches a higher degree of carelessness or inattention, perhaps to the point of indifference.

Recklessness or willful blindness is defined as a wanton disregard for the known dangers of a particular situation. An example of this would be a defendant throwing a brick off a bridge into vehicular traffic below. There exists no intent to kill, consequently a resulting death may not be considered murder. However, the conduct is probably reckless, sometimes used interchangeably with criminally negligent, which may subject the principal to prosecution for involuntary manslaughter: the individual was aware of the risk of injury to others and willfully disregarded it.

Negligence is a legal concept usually used to achieve compensation for accidents and injuries. Negligence is a type of tort or delict and a civil wrong, but it can also be used in criminal law. Negligence means conduct that is culpable because it misses the legal standard required of a reasonable person in protecting individuals against foreseeable risky, harmful acts of other members of society. Negligent behavior towards others gives them rights to be compensated for the harm to their body, property, mental well-being, financial status, or relationships. Negligence is used in comparison to acts or omissions which are intentional or willful. The law of negligence at common law is one aspect of the law of liability. Although resulting damages must be proved in order to recover compensation in a negligence action, the nature and extent of those damages are not the primary focus of this discussion.

these I pulled from some websites...

yah, I get it manslaughter = criminal which is not a civil case... hahahahahaha

yah. I can agree that my word order might not have been the best choice, but you are reaching to prove what point sohot?

I wouldn't think it would be a stretch for this family to say that the actions set in motion by a mother down the street caused their daughter to commit suicide. Now do I agree with that... hmmm... but it is their right to pursue a case... if I were pursuing it I would hope the jury would consist of concerned parents like our Kvegas

I wonder if it has crossed the DA of the county to pursue a case... the fact that it is still open is telling me something...

sohot your probably a lawyer... what do you think?

[sohotrightnow]

yah. I can agree that my word order might not have been the best choice, but you are reaching to prove what point sohot?

Just to be a jerk really.

[BucLax13]

point noted!

[TexOle]

This is also very close in timing to the Katherine Olson murder from Craigslist. The internet is a great tool, but it is also a scary place for a lot of reasons. It makes it easy for people to hide behind a moniker.

[echo 600]

This is a pretty sad story, but there's no case for negligence or manslaughter here. I've been a cop for about five and a half years, and I've worked a good amount of suicides. They're as irrational as they are tragic.

To prove negligence in a suicide case you would have to prove the subject absolutely knew the person was suicidal, not just depressed, but suicidal. Then, you'd have to prove they placed the person in a situation with the tools and capabilities to kill themselves. A good example would be a guy in prison tries to kill himself, so the prison puts him on suicide watch in a special cell. They know he's a threat to himself, but they forget to take away his shoelaces and he ultimately hangs himself. In that example, you have a better shot at negligence.

If a kid is depressed and is bullied and then kills himself, it sucks, but the bully is not at fault, not legally. Not a prossecutor in the land is going to take that to court. If a man finds out his wife is cheating on him, and then he hangs himself, do you prossecute the wife and the other man? No.

Families have real tough time dealing with suicides. They'll point to things like "his alarm clock was set for the next day, he was planning a vacation for next week, it couldn't have been suicide." That's pretty common, and they're looking for anything that would point to any sort of plausible explanation that's not suicide. Plus, there's the anger-there-has-to-be-somebody-to-blame-for-this phenomenon. Totally normal.

Don't get me wrong, this family that pulled this internet prank is group of sleeze balls that desreves a good kick in the cajones, but it would be a giant stretch to try to do anything to these people legally.

[DanGenck]

Watch out for the "big brother" mentality that your employer may take toward Facebook/MySpace. I know people throw this topic out there a lot, but it's true. Nothing is a bigger waste of your time than a meeting with HR about the fact that your Facebook profile has upset someone.

So stupid.

[Beta]

If being friends with someone on myspace/facebook (that you've never met) is the only thing keeping you alive...then something is definitely wrong. Where are the parents?

You can't sue the gf for breaking up with the bf and he kills himself...and vice versa. There's no law in place saying "you must be friends with someone".

[Zeuslax]

Sunday's Parade mag had a large article on online friendships and how you should try one. You don't lose anything related to interpersonal communication. One woman even cried when her online friend told her she was pregnant..............

[BucLax13]

this is a extreme example but...

http://mauinews.com/news/2007/2/21/02neary0221.html

According to Hawaii Revised Statutes 707-702, a manslaughter charge applies when someone recklessly causes the death of another person or intentionally causes another person to commit suicide.

I agree with you beta (even if it is an overgeneralization), but a family that is pissed their daughter is dead and lawyers giving to the chance to chart new waters in civil case law... don't you think it would be possible to bring a case forward

[BucLax13]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20071121/tc_usatoday/townmaycriminalizeonlineharassment

[Beta]

I agree with you beta (even if it is an overgeneralization), but a family that is pissed their daughter is dead and lawyers giving to the chance to chart new waters in civil case law... don't you think it would be possible to bring a case forward

Oh yeah, definitely.

But will that open precedence for suing someone (a bully) that picks on someone...and then that person goes on a shooting spree or kills themself? Blaming the victim is often wrong...but what if the victim is also the perpetrator?

An awful and sad case, definitely. I just wonder how this will come about in additions to the legal system.