A 15-year-old Dutch boy was sentenced to a year in juvenile detention today for stabbing to death a girl whose Facebook posts reportedly led to a contract for her killing.
The case, known in the Netherlands as the “Facebook murder”, caused widespread debate about the role of social media in violent crime.
The court said the boy did not know the victim and had murdered her “at the request or instructions of others”.
Dutch media reported that the 15-year-old victim, named in court documents as Winsie, had argued for weeks with two friends on the social networking site before they allegedly asked the defendant, who was 14 at the time, to kill her.
He was offered a €1,000 payment, the media reported.
“I am not happy with one year for my daughter’s life,” her father said outside the courthouse.
“But that’s what the law book says. We were powerless and so were the authorities.”
wow...some ppl really take this way too serious!!!!!
I had my first e-mail account when I was 19, mobile when I was 19...these days kids have FB and mobiles when they are 10yrs old....a mobile I can understand...for safety reasons...in case of emergencies....but FB and twitter, etc...I dnt think kids need it for anything worthwhile!!!
This is very disturbing. I never thought about social networks being this dangerous, I guess because I'm a guy and my generationgrew up with MSN, cell phones, Facebook etc, but this really opens your eyes.
I don't know where I heard it but I read somewhere that someone's dad said to them: "You might need therapy when you're grown up, but you'll be able to afford it". I don't intend to be my children's friend, at least not until they're in their 20's.
This is very disturbing. I never thought about social networks being this dangerous, I guess because I'm a guy and my generationgrew up with MSN, cell phones, Facebook etc, but this really opens your eyes.
I don't know where I heard it but I read somewhere that someone's dad said to them: "You might need therapy when you're grown up, but you'll be able to afford it".** I don't intend to be my children's friend, at least not until they're in their 20's.**
But I think you should be their friend when they hit their teens...so that they know they can come to you with any issue they are having...and not depend on other mediums to solve their problems and give them advice on things...
My dad was very strict with me when I was growing up...but the moment I hit my teens, he changed..and became my friend...and my mom was the same too....I can talk about anything to them..specially to my mom..
Maybe I'm being naive (I don't have kids, nor am I married) but I think you can talk to your kids without agreeing with everything they do, that's mostly what I was referring to. Most of the ill behaved kids out there exist because their parents try to please them too much. I agree with you though, that you should encourage your kids to talk to you, but when I said that I don't intend to be their friend, I meant that if I seriously disagree with something they're doing, I will put my foot down, regardless of how mad or upset they are.
^oh..ok..ofcoz my parents didn't agree with everything I said or wanted to do...(good friends will not agree with everything you do), I have had my share of disagreements with them...but now I realise that it was for my own good!
I’m not letting my future kids anywhere near social networking websites!