This is why new laws may be needed to address this problem. AP:
Police who've been investigating the suicide of a bullied gay teenager announced Tuesday that they had decided the boy's death was not a crime.Mind you, these were the kids who chanted "better off dead" when, at a school dance, shortly after his death, a song was played in Jamey's honor. We wrote about that little episode previously. Here's MSNBC:
Amherst investigators last month sent 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer's computer and cellphone to a forensics lab to help determine whether the bullying he often talked about before taking his own life Sept. 18 rose to a criminal level. Investigators were looking for evidence that would have supported charges of aggravated harassment or a hate crime.
The parents of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, who was found dead at their home on Sept. 18, indicated in an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry on Tuesday that their daughter endured further taunts at a school function immediately after Jamey’s wake. At a homecoming dance she attended shortly after her brother’s death, a potentially poignant moment turned ugly after a song by Lady Gaga, Jamey’s favorite artist, who recently dedicated a song at a concert in his memory.Hopefully Jamey's parents will successfully sue the families of these bullies. And then we need to take a serious look at what laws are on the books, and at how schools are handling (or not) these incidents before they come to the death of a child.
“She was having a great time, and all of a sudden a Lady Gaga song came on, and they all started chanting for Jamey, all of his friends,’’ Jamey’s mother, Tracy, told Curry. “Then the bullies that put him into this situation started chanting, ‘You’re better off dead!’ and ‘We’re glad you’re dead!’ and things like that.
“My daughter came home all upset. It was supposed to be a time for her to grieve and have fun with her friends, and it turned into bullying even after he’s gone.’’
