If you were the Judge and the Jury, and it were totally up to your judgement and opinion, what would be the punishment for the kid whose webcam spying caused his roommate Tyler Clemente to commit suicide?

He’s 18? And he caused another person’s death because of his thoughtless douchebaggery? Hmmmm. I’d likely sentence him to a long prison sentence. That other boy is dead because of him; that’s not something to be taken lightly. Yep, very long prison sentence. With a gay cellmate nicknamed Shirley who gets really lonely in the middle of the night.

I think that his life should be filmed for awhile and all of it posted on the web. That way he could feel what Tyler felt when his intimate moments and mistakes were laughed at and commented on.

It’s a case of intimidation.

There also might be a case made for conspiracy, depending on the intent of Ravi.

Is there a direct connection to his death from Ravi? No, not as far as body contact.

The victim was 18, an adult. He was accountable for his actions, taped or not.

I cannot see how a case can be made from a video tape, that would lead a person to commit suicide.

@john65pennington Do you think the adults taped by peeping tom’s are at fault, then? This kid was taped without his consent, then shamed & humiliated on the web.

I think it is a sad and immature prank that went very wrong, but I do not think he “caused” the suicide nor do I think he should be severely punished.

Stupid, unkind, thoughtless, immature, yes, but murder, no.
The kid that killed himself obviously had plenty of his own issues and many young people have had compromising photos of themselves published online without their consent that have not killed themselves over it.

I see the whole thing as the tragic outcome of immaturity.

There might be a case made for Federal Wire Fraud, by using the internet illegaly for personal gain.

But, this would be stretching that law beyond belief and a jury would never convict.

He wasn’t charged with causing the death, he was charged with a hate crime. I don’t see how this would be any different were the room mate hetersexual nor should the punishment be any different. I am universally opposed to special punishments that depend on the category of the victim. Expulsion may be adequate even though it may result in deportation as well (student visa?). Otherwise prison time for college prank gone wrong seems way over the top.

He is guilty of ignorance and poor judgment. He is not guilty of murder. He invaded Clementi’s privacy. We know that for sure, and he’s admitted to it. What should be the punishment for that?

A peeping tom violation would most likely involved trespassing to a degree and this was not the case here.

I agree he should suffer some consequences for the privacy violation, but he is not responsible for the other kids death. The dead kid is responsible and he could have made many different choices other than to take his own life over something that will be yesterdays news in no time.

Actually @john65pennington in my state, this would be a minimum 9mos in jail and $10K fine for the breech of privacy. He’d also be added to the sex offender list. Do I think that’s enough of a penalty? Not really. His actions caused a deadly reaction. Sad.

I just wonder if the victim had psychological conditions, prior to committing suicide?

@SpatzieLover Wow…that’s a steep fine and punishment.
I am woefully bereft of knowing the laws on certain crimes.

@john65pennington I’d say so. People of relative mental and emotional health do not just kill themselves when something goes wrong or they are humiliated. Just sad.

Drawn and quartered in the village centre, filmed on international television.

@john65pennington: To answer my question, don’t worry about “a jury would never convict.” You are the jury in the question, so it’s up to you, remember? Hypothetical?

@Coloma
Quite a few moms fought hard for the loopholes in our Peeping Tom laws to be closed. We know one of the moms personally. She lived at one of our properties after selling the home she and her family were peeped and taped in.

Prior to this time, peeping toms could get away with videoing you while standing on your property and would get a mere trespassing fine. Some of the tom’s had set up web cams inside & outside of homes.

@SpatzieLover Wow… I had no idea, I lead a sheltered life. lol
Out here any suspicious strangers lurking around someones property would be met with a shotgun in their face. ;-)

I find both breach of privacy and peeping tom to be a bit over the top. Remember that this was Ravi’s home as well.

He was found guilty on all 15 counts so at least 12 jury members felt Ravi really messed up here. What get’s me is how glib and proud Ravi was with his “spying” and enough so that he did it again a few days later and again bragged about it to his “network” of buddies. Even gave heads up so other could watch in on the fun.

Totally senseless tragedy. Time to send a message to Ravi and other would be cyber bullies.

On the other hand, I’d be pretty irritated with any sex in my dorm room, let alone gay sex. Talk about violating one’s personal space!

Slap him with a heavy fine for being a jerk. Something that he’ll be paying off for the rest of his life.

@Cruiser Kid sounds like a narcissistic sociopath. It’s one thing to make a stupid and tragic mistake, entirely another to be vain glorious about it. Hmmm…maybe he should get the maximum punishment in that case.

@Jaxk How do you find “breach of privacy and peeping tom” to be “over the top”??? It doesn’t matter if it was Ravi’s home as well, he videotaped his male roommate fucking another man and put it on the internet. Who really gives a fuck if Ravi lived there too? That would be like saying “My brother videotaped me having sex and broadcast it on the internet, but it wasn’t a breach of privacy and he’s not a peeping tom”. How in the hell do you see this a just a “prank”?

@Jaxk Ravi set up the camera and went down the hall to sit in a room with his friend and not only sat and watched, but streamed it live to all his online buddies. What would you call THAT?

ica, I would never convict this person. Upon appeal, my decision would probably be overtuned, so why bother.

I would like to take the cameraman out in the woods and teach him the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

Turn your cameras away. It may not be a pretty sight.

About prison sentences I have no idea, really, but I would want him to visit the boy’s parents and family to explain to them what he thought he was doing, why he was doing it, what he thinks about the whole thing in hindsight, and let him listen to what this drama means to Tyler’s family.
And if he has a conscious, and he feels remorse for his deed, he can try to word his heartfelt apologies to the parents.

I do find the whole “wanting to watch” thing kind of disturbing. Wouldn’t it be ironic if it turned out that the guy who is punished for a hate crime against gays…is gay?

Maybe I’m totally off base in that. I don’t know.

“Ravi set up the camera and went down the hall to sit in a room with his friend and not only sat and watched, but streamed it live to all his online buddies.”

Untrue. That’s what was in the original police report, but it was not the truth. They did not stream it online. He turned off the camera before anything happened. They only filmed some kissing.

I don’t understand the verdict. The jury found that he had no intention to commit a hate crime, but that it was a hate crime. I think that if any crime requires intent, it is a hate crime. But he had no intent, so how could it have happened?

He did invade his roommate’s privacy. That’s not nice. But that’s all he did, and that’s what he should be punished for. He did not kill his roommate. His roommate was mentally ill, according to the New Yorker. They had an article about this a few weeks ago. It was pretty detailed.

I don’t know what the rules are for non-citizens. But if this crime gets you deported, then he should get deported. That is, if the conviction holds up on appeal. I’m not sure it will.

As to jail? A month. At most. Really, he’s been punished enough already. His life has been completely altered already.

Depends on if he feels genuine remorse & to what degree. Certainly sounds like a clumsy prank gone tragically wrong. At the end of the day, anyone who chooses to take their own life is ultimately responsibly for their actions, however much provocation they may have withstood.
Sad story though.

He didn’t make him commit suicide. You can’t put that on him.
Sure, he was an asshole, and he should be punished for that. But he did not kill that boy. The guy killed himself.

Soooo, the full picture emerges, mentally ill room mate and narcissistic little f—k’s paths cross and the nature of both beasts emerge. No shortage in berth on the ship of fools. lol

I have to agree with @Nullo . A heavy fine, that will have him paying for the next 20 years, would be about right. This was a prank of an immature and indisciplined personality. The same has to be said about the victim. Why did he kill himself instead of going over to Ravi’s dorm and giving him what for?

I have to agree with @AshLeigh on this one. But at the same time, he isn’t being charged with killing Tyler Clementi; we all know he didn’t. But I can’t help but feel like there should be some punishment, which I guess is what’s happening.

@bea2345 They were assigned roommates, the atmosphere was hostile from the start of the year. Ravi was openly ridiculing him, and he did purposely set up the camera to “catch” him having sex with another man.

I’d give him 1 to 5 years felony conviction and deportation.

Whew, well, all I can say is I am glad that it was the 70’s when I handed out chocolate covered Milk Bones to kids on Halloween. Nobody was hurt, no broken teeth, maybe a little less tarter. ;-)

I don’t think we’ve begun to understand the difference it makes when we add the Internet into the equation, whether it’s teasing, bullying, flirting, invading privacy, libeling, reporting, recruiting, expressing opinions, or even exposing our own personal business knowingly and deliberately to the eye of the public.

Our laws and conventions and public opinion have not yet evolved to cope with the staggeringly different world created by this technology, which gives incredible power to anyone indiscriminately and completely divorces it from responsibility.

So I have no idea. I don’t know how to think about what it means.

@wundayatta I read that article and thought it was excellent. I don’t recall or see where it says that Tyler was mentally ill??

And what about the “hate” that Tyler expressed upon meeting his roommate, mocking him for being Indian – his funny name, his parents probably owned a Dunkin’ Donuts? It’s not like he was the picture of tolerance, either.

The whole thing makes me so sad.

If anything, I believe he should be required to do volunteer work in a hospital or similar setting for a year or two.

Yarnlady, before the court (or you or I) could make this requirement, he would have to be convicted first and this would be his sentence,

@wundayatta Thanks for your link and according to the 14 page article you furnished here, I now have a deeper understanding of this Ravi, homophobic tendencies and his motivations to humiliate his roommate…

“That evening, Ravi also texted with Michelle Huang, a high-school friend who was at Cornell. “I have it pointed at his bed and the monitor is off so he can’t see you,” he wrote. And, “It’s set to automatically accept, I just tested it and it works.” He later added, “be careful it could get nasty,” and “people are having a viewing party.”
[snip}
Clementi unplugged Ravi’s computer. In a text sent at 9:41 P.M., he told Yang, “I was afraid he might have hidden another webcam so I also shut down and turned off the power strip.” Prosecutors, pursuing a bias charge, have claimed that “afraid,” in this context, constitutes evidence of fear.”

These facts of the case show to me that despite Ravi remorseful claims, there was a concerted effort on Ravis part to exploit his roommates gayness and got a result I am pretty sure he did not intend to have happen.

The fact that Ravi drove a BMW in high school and sat in court flanked by two I assume very high priced lawyers who helped arrange a sweet plea deal for Ravis friend Wei, that this whole story is lacking the testimony of M.B. and others who knew Clementi.

I read all 14 pages of your link and it only reinforced my perception that Ravi was a homophobe bent on exposing and exploiting his roommate and even though he did not push Clementi off the bridge he certainly pushed that man into a corner no one should have to endure.

Plus despite the best efforts of his 2 high priced lawyers Ravi was convicted on all 15 counts and that should tell you there is more to this story that only sealed court documents can tell.

It is interesting how we read the material and come to different conclusions. I guess sitting on the jury would give us access to even more information.

I’m not sure where the idea that he was mentally ill came from. Maybe I was reading between the lines. They didn’t say much about Clementi’s home life, but I could have sworn somebody said something about it. Or maybe it was just the suicide itself. Maybe by definition it seems to me you have something going wrong with your thinking process if you are willing to kill yourself.

I have a hard time imagining how anyone could make that choice without distorted thinking. No. I can’t imagine making that choice without thinking that is influenced by short-circuiting brain chemistry. To mix a metaphor.

If I were the judge and jury, Ravi would get 10 years, and then get deported. Let him make a living in India, where he’ll be sitting in a cubicle with 100 other customer service reps who have to work at night, in order to coincide with the time change in the US where our day is their night.

@wundayatta Your point about this man killing himself is the untold story that has left me wanting more. We have the start of a new semester, Clemente has his mystery stud muffin and by all intent and purpose a little mischief by his roommate Ravi hardly fits the definition of someone pushed to the edge to kill oneself. I guess we will have to wait for the TV movie to find out more.

@Cruiser I agree. He wasn’t portrayed as being so sensitive that this would push him over the edge. Will we ever find out more about what was going on inside Clementi’s head at the time? Is it possible that he didn’t jump, but was pushed? Right now, we don’t know much, even after the trial, as far as I’m concerned.

One person’s suicide can’t be blamed on someone else. You cannot cause another person to commit suicide. He broke the Federal video voyeurism law and I would have given him the one year prison term for that as well as deportation.