Not too long ago, about last week, a Rutgers University student, Tyler Clementi, tragically took his own life by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River. He was driven to commit suicide by two other Rutgers students, one of them being is very own roommate. Tyler Clementi asked his roommate for the room until midnight to do as he pleased. Before his roommate, Dharun Ravi, left, he discreetly placed a webcam in the room to stream Clementi's intimate moments over the Internet. Ravi left the room to go to another student's (Molly Wei) room to watch what Clementi was going to do. Ravi then tweeted "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my web cam. I saw him making out with another dude. Yay." Because of Ravi and Wei's prank, Clementi was forced to commit suicide. He posted on facebook "Jumping of the gw bridge sorry." Shortly after this facebook post, Clementi jumped off the bridge and fell to his death.
Both Ravi and Wei have been charged with two account of invasion of privacy because they used a camera to view images of Clementi in his intimate moments. The most serious sentence they can receive is 5 years. However, neither will be serving that because Ravi was freed on a bail of $25,000 and Wei "was released on her own recognizance." To me, both 5 years and a $25,000 bail is not enough. Moreover, it has not been said whether or not Wei and Ravi have been suspended or expelled. I would assume they would both get expelled, but you never know.
First of all, I have no idea how Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei can sleep at night because they led Tyler Clementi to killing himself! I don' t understand why Ravi would have thought that it would be funny to stream some one's intimate moments, and I, quite frankly, think he's really, really dumb. Furthermore, the sentences they should receive should be much more than just 5 years and a bail should be MUCH higher than $25,000. It's annoying how they weaseled out of a punishment and instead got a bail. They need to understand the consequences, and I don't think a simple bail will get the point across. I realize that this will forever affect their lives, but they need a hard punishment as well. If I were to judge this, I would give them 8 years, a bail of $100,000, and an expulsion from Rutgers.
What do you guys think their punishment should have been? Do you think Ravi should have been released on a higher bail or a lower? Should they be tried for involuntariy manslaughter?
And remember kids, don't put anything up on the Internet that can potentially hurt you!
Monday, October 4, 2010
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6 comments:
I think the bail should have been around $35,000, and both Ravi and Wei should get expelled from Rugers University! What they did was both nasty and intrusive. Universities should have some rules about privacy in order to protects students.
Yes, Gurjote, this is tragic, and there should be serious reprocussions for this breach of privacy. However, as far as the law goes, these two are not strictly connected to murder or manslaughter. Unfortunately, Clementi shared a room with Ravi, which means that Ravi was originally doing Clementi a favor, technically, by letting him have the room. However cruel, Ravi and Wei only played a prank that had tragic consequences. They legally can't be charged with manslaughter or responsibility for Clementi's death. Expulsion and bail+a five year sentence are about as extreme as the punishment can be, from my perspective, under the circumstances.
He was not forced to preform suicide, he did it under his will (under unfortunate circumstances). They do deserve the 5 years for invasion of privacy, but I am afraid that it will continue to happen. There's only certain things that the university can do "protect" the privacy of students, the protection of privacy of one leads to an invasion of privacy of another. The only way to stop this from occurring is if the student take the situation in their own hands and actually give privacy to other students.
According to Rutgers University policy,"Making or attempting to make an audio or video recording of any person(s) on University premises in bathrooms, showers, bedrooms, or other premises where there is an expectation of privacy with respect to nudity and/or sexual activity, without the knowledge and consent of all participants subject to such recordings" is illegal. In as much, I don't think that unless it can be definitely proven that Ravi knew that his roommate was going to spend his time "until midnight" involved in sexual activity, then he, and Wei, should be acquitted of all charges. Additionally, although he unfortunately committed suicide, Clementi should have never engaged in such activity, in accordance to school regulations, as would thus inconvenience his roommate.
I think that this is a horrible event that has been happening not only in this university, but in other parts of the country as well. I believe that their punishment is not fair. I don't know what their punishment should really be, but I hope that Ravi and Wei carry this with them for their rest of their lives, because they have caused the death of a human being, and not just a death, but a suicide. I hope that people throughout the world learn that everyone deserves respect and privacy, no matter where they come from, what language they speak, what their preferences to be in a relationship with someone is, etc. We are all humans and we all make mistakes, but this was one that could've been prevented if Ravi and Wei would have had the decency to actually THINK before they ACTED!!!
I know that this type of issue won't get fixed in the blink of an eye, but I sure hope that the rate of suicide attempts due to violations of privacy and respect lower during the remainder of this year and the years to come.
Dear Mr. Lonely
AP students not free. too much to study. many will not follow blog even if can. stop.
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