Great Britain, in 2009, sent their first teenager to jail for harassing another young girl on Facebook. The article Teenage girl first to be jailed for Bullying on Facebook, written by Helen Carter, tells the story of Houghton. Houghton, 18 years old, harassed and posted life-threatening messages online about Emily Moore. The victim, Moore, was physically and verbally harassed by Houghton numerous times, before Houghton also became a cyber bully. She was attacked when walking home from school, threatened when out at a bar and was scared for her life with Facebook statuses. Houghton was already sent to institutions before her last crime and was let go. Her Facebook threats were her last attempts at bullying Moore. Houghton has now been punished for good.
Emily Moore did not deserve anything that happened to her. In my opinion, Houghton should have never been let out of the institution so quickly after she physically attacked and verbally assaulted her. For the judge to finally punish Houghton after putting up a Facebook post really upsets me. Moore should have been able to feel comfortable at home, walking outside and out at bars way before those statuses were posted. I am glad that Houghton is finally getting what she deserves, but it should have happened so much earlier. Cyber bullying is becoming a serious problem and needs to be monitored and stopped.
Excellent post, Mel. Thanks for putting the effort into it.
ReplyDelete