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 Phoebe Prince, 15, had immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland and shortly after her arrival, allegedly became a victim of bullying at her school. (HANDOUT) |
The family of a 15-year-old Boston-area teen who killed herself in January after allegedly being bullied has lashed out at a magazine article portraying the girl as troubled.
Phoebe Prince, 15, had immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland and shortly after her arrival, allegedly became a victim of bullying at her school. She was allegedly tormented while walking down the hall, on her way to and from school, and also sometimes online.
Prince hanged herself Jan. 14. Her younger sister found her body hanging in the stairwell that leads to the family's second-floor apartment. Prince was dressed in the clothes she had worn to school that day.
Six teenagers — students at her high school in Northampton, Massachusetts, including Prince's ex-boyfriend — were charged in March.
But in her article in Slate magazine, Emily Bazelon says her investigation "reveals the uncomfortable fact that Phoebe helped set in motion the conflicts with other students that ended in them turning on her.”
“Her death was tragic, and she shouldn't have been bullied. But she was deeply troubled long before she ever met the six defendants. And her own behaviour made other students understandably upset," Bazelon wrote.
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The article, called What Really Happened to Phoebe Prince?, says the teen's suicide wasn't her first attempt, that she was prone to cutting herself and the story behind Prince's death "is a lot more complicated than anyone has publicly allowed for."
But in an interview with the Boston Herald, Prince's aunt, Eileen Moore, said the article just reopened wounds. Family friend Darby O'Brien said Bazelon is just another person who wants to find blame with Prince.
“It’s been going on since the beginning — let’s further victimize the victim. As far as this whole troubled kid thing, well kids don’t commit suicide unless they’re troubled. This (bullying) just pushed her over the edge," O'Brien said.
In March, when she announced the charges, Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said Prince was harassed in the library, in front of teachers and other students, but the alleged abuse wasn't reported to school administrators until after she died.
"The investigation revealed relentless activity directed toward Phoebe, designed to humiliate her and to make it impossible for her to remain at school," Scheibel said in a statement. "The bullying, for her, became intolerable."
It took the high school more than a month to suspend some of the students who were believed to be involved in the bullying, which sparked criticism from parents and international media attention.
Prince's harassment was "common knowledge to most of the South Hadley High School student body," Scheibel said, adding some faculty, staff and administrators also knew about it.
"Prior to Phoebe's death, her mother spoke with at least two school staff members about the harassment," Scheibel said. "The actions, or inactions, of some adults at the school are troublesome."
Some of the charges against the accused are stalking, assault and criminal harassment.