Suicide of Phoebe Prince
| Phoebe Prince | |
|---|---|
Phoebe Prince
|
|
| Born |
Phoebe Nora Mary Prince November 24, 1994 Bedford, England |
| Died | January 14, 2010 (aged 15) South Hadley, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
| Nationality | British (birthplace) |
| Occupation | Student |
The suicide of Phoebe Prince, on January 14, 2010, led to the criminal prosecution of six teenagers for charges including civil rights violations, as well as to the enactment of stricter anti-bullying legislation by the Massachusetts state legislature.
Prince had moved from Ireland to South Hadley, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Her suicide, after suffering months of bullying from school classmates, brought international attention to the problem of bullying in US schools. In March 2010, a state anti-bullying task force was set up as a result of her death. The Massachusetts legislation was signed into law on May 3, 2010.
The trial for those accused in the case occurred in 2011. Sentences of probation and community service were handed down after guilty pleas on May 5, 2011.
Phoebe Nora Mary Prince was born on 24 November 1994 in Bedford, England, United Kingdom, and moved to the seaside community of Fanore in County Clare, Ireland, when she was two. Prince attended Villiers Secondary School, a private school in County Limerick. She immigrated to the U.S. in the autumn of 2009 with her mother and four siblings. Her mother lived in Boston for a few years. Her father, a British national, remained in nearby Lisdoonvarna. Prince was attending South Hadley High School at the time of her death at age 15, on January 14, 2010.
Having recently moved to the U.S. from Ireland, Prince was taunted and bullied for several weeks by at least two groups of students at South Hadley High School, following disputes with two girls in late December 2009. Her aunt reportedly warned school officials in August 2009, prior to Prince's enrollment at the school, to watch after Prince, as she was "susceptible" to problems including bullying. Investigations later found that Prince was in fact one of four girls bullying a student in Ireland in a dispute over a relationship with a boy. After the victim of that bullying was moved to another school by her parents, Phoebe wrote a letter of apology which was praised by the victim's mother, who blamed the bullying on peer pressure and the lack of action by the school authorities.
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