Case Study 3: Suicide

Strayer University

CRJ 322 – The Criminal Mind

The concept of cyberbullying consists of having three elements. There is a distinct relationship when it comes to suicide and depression. The wide-use of social media among individuals shows that suicide is significant and is becoming more prevalent because of this. Suicide is a major focal point for many agencies and they will continue to work to try and get support for individuals who are considering suicide. Suicide rates vary around the world and there are causes for the differences as to why this occurs. In my opinion, suicide should be considered to be deviant behavior.

There are three different elements when it comes to the concept of cyberbullying. One element of cyberbullying is that the act was done willfully and repeated. The second element of cyberbullying is that it causes harm perceived by its target. The third element of cyberbullying is that it is perpetrated via computers, cell phones, or other electronic devices. Katlyn Roman and Guadalupe Shaw should be charged with a cyberbullying crime. Rebecca was constantly worried about what the two girls would do next to her and tried to avoid personal contact with them because she was afraid something might happen to her. Rebecca was afraid to re-read the text messages from the girls since that it would make her feel bullied over and over again. According to Bazelon (2014), the deputies found files in her phone and evidence of cyberbullying, even though officials publicly described cruel text and social media messages as reasons for Rebecca’s suicide telling her “You should die” and “Why don’t you go kill yourself?” and “No one will miss you if you die.” These were the terrorizing messages that Rebecca received through social media that led to her suicide, and Katlyn Roman and Guadalupe Shaw should be charged with a cyberbullying crime, and the two girls were actually charged with felony charges of aggravated stalking in the end since it went on for over a 10 month period. Katelyn Roman even posted a final message on Facebook stating “Yes IK, I bullied REBECCA and she killed herself but IDGAF,” the message read. Authorities said the initials mean: “I don’t give a (expletive)” (Martinez, 2013). This proves that the individual that does the cyberbullying does not care about what is said about another person even if that person is already dead and or about the consequences and will continue to do it because they enjoy doing it.

There is definitely a common relationship and link between suicide and depression. Studies have found that major depression is the psychiatric diagnosis for individuals that are most commonly associated with suicide. The majority of suicide attempts and suicide deaths happen among teens with depression. Keep in my mind that most of the time for most teenagers depression is a passing mood. Depression plays a big role in suicide and it engages on the weak mind because of their conditions and their thoughts that they have. Most teens who have depression think about suicide, and between 15% and 30% of teens with serious depression who think about suicide go on to make a suicide attempt. According to Wallace (2014), “more than a year before her death, Rebecca Sedwick had been battling depression resulting from her deteriorating relationship with her father and complained about fights between her mother and stepfather.” Rebecca did not realize that the hopelessness, the hurt and the pain could be relieved. The treatment for her depression was not working and she discontinued going to her therapist, and her distorted thinking could have been cleared and changed into a better and more hopeful future. I believe that she was diagnosed with depression but others are not undiagnosed with depression and still commit suicide.

Suicide is definitely becoming a more prevalent area of interest due to the wide-use of social media. Teenagers use Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace to cyberbully others. Since there is an increase in technologies in social media, cyberbullying has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers. The reason why suicide is becoming more prevalent is because it is much easier for teenagers to inflict hurt or embarrass to others through the use of social media. Teenagers are encouraging other teenagers to do cyberbullying in order to harass the victim online through the use of social media. Teenagers try to damage the victim’s reputation through the words that they use and insinuate verbal accusations about the victim through the use of social media. Unfortunately, suicide will remain a focal point for many different agencies that try to provide the support and educate teenagers who are victims of cyberbullying. Many different agencies come together to educate and prevent suicide from happening to teenagers within our society today. In March 2007, the Advertising Council in the United States, in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council, U.S. Department of Justice, and Crime Prevention Coalition of America, joined to announce the launch of a new public service advertising campaign designed to educate preteens and teens about how they can play a role in ending cyber-bullying. In January 2008, The Boy Scouts of America made a handbook on how to deal with and address cyberbullying. In August 2009, an anti-bullying charity Act against Bullying launched the Cyber Kind campaign to promote positive internet usage. STOMP out bullying is the leading national bullying and cyberbullying prevention organization for kids and teens. We are very fortunate to have agencies like these that will come together to educate and prevent suicide from happening to teenagers in the present that are experiencing cyberbullying.

Suicide is the taking of one’s own life by any means. Suicide rates vary enormously from one country to another around the world influenced by the cultural, social, religious and economic environments in which people live and sometimes want to stop living. One cause for this difference is that other countries condemn suicide and disapprove of the action taking place. The reason for this is because individuals in these countries such as Jewish and Christians see the human life as sacred and a person will not take their own life. Christians saw the act of suicide as being a sin and a crime against the state and it was seen as being a double offense for taking one’s own life (Clinard and Meier, 2011). A second cause for this difference is that other countries favor suicide in in some situations. For instance, in Japan their suicide rate remains and is extremely high by world standards today (Clinard and Meier, 2011). According to Wasserman, Cheng, and Jiang (2005), “suicidal behavior is a major health concern in many countries, developed and developing alike. At least a million people are estimated to die annually from suicide worldwide. Many more people, especially the young and middle-aged, attempt suicide.” Suicide was the fourth leading cause of death among young males and the third for young females that were studied about global suicide rates aged 15-19 year olds. A total of 12,064 cases of suicide (8,801 males and 3,263 females) from 90 countries (areas) were analyzed. The mean suicide rate for 15-19 year-olds in the 90 countries (areas), based on data in different years for the various countries, was 7.4/100,000 (10.5 for males and 4.1 for females) (Wasserman, Cheng, and Jiang, 2005). In my opinion, suicide should be considered to be deviant behavior. The egoistic suicide that she did to herself comes from her inability to be able to cope with her environment. Since there was no order in her life, she decided to commit suicide. Consistent with the traditional functional approach to the study of deviance, suicide is behavior contrary to the norms and therefore considered to be deviant.

The concept of cyberbullying consists of having three elements. There is a distinct relationship when it comes to suicide and depression. The wide-use of social media among individuals shows that suicide is significant and is becoming more prevalent because of this. Suicide is a major focal point for many agencies and they will continue to work to try and get support for individuals who are considering suicide. Suicide rates vary around the world and there are causes for the differences as to why this occurs. In my opinion, suicide should be considered to be deviant behavior.

References:

Bazelon, E. (2014). The Sheriff Overstepped. Grady Judd got the spotlight, but no justice, in

charging two teenage girls in the Rebecca Sedwick suicide case. The Slate Group.

Retrieved from http://www/slate/com/articles/news_and_politics/doublex/2014/04/rebecca_

sedwick_suicide_sheriff_grady_judd_never_should_have_arrested_katelyn.html

Clinard, M., & Meier, R. (2011). Sociology of deviant behavior (14th ed.). Wadsworth

Publishing.

FindLaw. Cyberbullying. Retrieved from http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/cyber–

bullying.html

Martinez, M. (2013, October 28). Charges in Rebecca Sedwick’s suicide suggest ‘tipping point’

in bullying case. CNN: Turner Broadcasting System. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2

013/10/25/us/rebecca-sedwick-bullying-suicide-case/

Wallace, K. (2014, April 21). Police file raises questions about bullying in Rebecca Sedwick’s

suicide. CNN, Cable News Network. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/04-18/livin

g/rebecca-sedwick-bullying-suicide-follow-parents/

Wasserman, D., Cheng, Q., & Jiang, G. (2005). Global suicide rates among young people aged

15-19. World Psychiatry. 2005 Jun; 4(2): 114–120. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih

gov/pmc/articles/PMC1414751/