Tyler Clementi was a gay 18-year-old student at Rutgers University who leapt to his death from the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 20, 2010. Why? His roommate, Dharun Ravi, taped him having sex with another man via webcam in their dorm room. He and his accomplice, student Molly Wei, watched the encounter with several friends in Wei’s dorm room.
Ravi urged his friends and Twitter followers to watch a second encounter via webcam. Clementi killed himself shortly after discovering the second incident and reporting Ravi to his resident advisor. He had requested a room transfer, and for Ravi to be punished.
Ravi was found guilty on 15 counts of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, tampering with evidence, witness tampering, and hindering apprehension or prosecution (Wei pled out). Yesterday he received 30 days in jail, and a $10,000 fine.
Let’s hear your thoughts. Was the verdict fair? You can read the whole story here.
He should have received more time than 30 days because his actions resulted in someones death, regardless if that was his intention or not. And, to be honest, he should have received more time just on the witness tampering and hindering an investigation alone.
Detaching myself from an emotional reaction, I’d say yes. Given the charges. But on a purely emotional level, I think he got off way too easily. I’d hate to be one of those people who is all “he needed to be made an example off” but if there was ever a chance to make an example out of a bully, it was probably here.
But again, that’s just an emotional gut reaction.
As a Asian, he totally brought a bad name.
Me thinks he got off way to lightly. More time in prison to contemplate his wrong doing and six good whacks of a heavy cane in the court room or in front of his peers would deter him from repeating this sort of behaviour.
I believe if he had bullied a white Straight boy his sentence would have been more severe. I think he needed more jail time and deported. I was a victim of bulling my entire school life.
30 days seems an incredibly minor amount of time to serve for stealing someone’s privacy in such a blatant way. Emotions aside, and resulting suicide aside. Recording and broadcasting someone, especially in such an intimate situation, without their knowledge or consent is incredibly wrong. Then to use that to bully, intimidate or coerce a person. … I’m sorry, people go to jail for less serious things for a whole lot longer, so this just doesn’t seem fair.
2-3 years minimum.
As a gay Rutgers grad, I’ve followed this case fairly closely. What Ravi did was awful. Clementi’s reaction was even more awful. Was there a cause/effect? Yes. Was the effect what Ravi had intended? Not likely. He was a 20-year-old kid who did something really, really stupid. He didn’t think about potential consequences of his actions. But let’s also remember that Clementi was making out with someone, and that someone didn’t commit suicide. Was Clementi fragile? Obviously. Depressed? Probably. It was a perfect storm, and the results were tragedy. Ultimately, Ravi didn’t actually murder anyone–he just gave a fragile, depressed kid a reason to over-react and kill himself.
He had no way of knowing that Tyler would kill himself but the fact remains he spied on and broadcats someone without their knowledge. and in this day and age doing that is considered borderline terrorism. he needs more than 30 days for invasion of privacy and spying. people get sued through the nose and get more jail time for recording themselves with someone who doesnt know the camera is on and then leaking it. the suicide here is irrelevant in regard to it because there is no evidence he actively tried to make this kid kill himself. but the homophobia and the spying with malicious intent should hhave landed this fucker more time in jail… way more. but fags and fatties and brown people are the last 3 ya can still get away with fucking over with little repercussion
I would think that there would be two kind of reactions here…one “he got off way too easy” and the gay haters would say “he got way too much”…but one thing is for sure no one will say this is just the perfect sentence…WOW, they should’ve at least made him take an educational program on non discrimination or something…and make him talk to others on consequences of their stupid actions…someone had died because of him…how can he live with that…
this is a country where if you download a song you get fined millions of dollars and face 5-10 years of jail time. but invasion of privacy and harrassment get you nothing. hell you get less for beating someone up than you get for stealing a song.. priorities are fucked here
Seems fair to me. Call me heartless, but the kid is remorseful, his actions a product of stupidity rather than malice, and the punishment he has been dealt focuses on rehabilitation rather than vindication. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
On the same token, if he had bullied a straight white boy, we wouldn’t give a shit.
“On May 21, 2012, Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 3 years probation, 300 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine, and counseling on cyberbullying and alternate lifestyles.”
Can you even read?
I agree with grisgris> Also, what he did is the kind of ill-advised insensitive prank that movies like American Pie glorify as hilarious. I don’t think he can be held responsible for the other boy’s death, it seemed from the evidence that the gay boy’s mother being unaccepting of him was a much stronger factor for his suicide.
Deported to where? He is American, you know that right? Makes me wonder if you would have said that if it was a white American in question.
relax, priorities on this side of the pond are as equally fukked….
GREETINGS FROM SUNNY SOUTH AFRICA
I don’t agree that the death, whether by suicide is irrelevant here. There is a cause and effect, which flows directly from the actions of that young man. His motives intentions and actions are reprehensible, and he deserved to go to prison on a charge of manslaughter. I am an English attorney, specialising in criminal litigation. To me on a personal and professional level this is a tragic, but avoidable situation where there is blame, which goes way beyond invasion of privacy. . In English law he would have been looking at years in prison for the crime, as you must “take your victim as you find him”. The offences of witness inference and tampering with evidence, are not ancillary, but are aggravating features to heinous offence commits by this person. He would have got proper jail time here, and the only recompense is that he will have to live with the results of behaviour.
Hopefully someone in jail will make those 30 days a living hell for him.
well, when he’s in prison he may get a first hand account what its like to be gay and fucked up the ass
Where is the evidence that the boys death “flowed directly” from the actions of the young man> he was not on trill for causing the boys death? In that case, why was the boy’s mother not on trill for causing his death, as he was apparently much more distressed at the reaction of his mother> Correct me if I am wrong as I am not privy to all the evidence, but I thought it was determined that there was no evidence linking the suicide to the charges?
on trial, I meant, sorry for typo!
You really shouldn’t be wishing rape on anybody, no matter what mistakes they have made.
Should we expect a modicum of privacy in our lives? Of course. Should we be guaranteed it? No, sorry. TV Stars bitch about it all the time. If you didn’t want fame, don’t step into the lime light.
We’re making this to be a gay bashing like thing. If the kid was in there picking his nose for an hour, or riding a dildo or fucking a blow up doll…. would we all be so up in arms? He’s in a dorm. Not that I condone the sneaky camera but HE’S IN A DORM!!! If you expect privacy in a dorm, you will be sorely disappointed.
It’s not that I don’t feel for the kid, but this is no different than watch someone skunny dip in what they think is a private place and calling the other kids to come over and watch, too. If you don’t want others to know about it, don’t do it.
“Just don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your mother and best friend to find out about.”
So, using this logic, if you yelled at someone because you’re behind her at a red light, and you completely embarrass her with lots of people around on the sidewalks; perhaps you didn’t realize that her car just died and she just lost their job that morning. Are you responsible if she kills herself that afternoon after mentioning that you were a rude ass who should be punished? Should you go to jail and be find 10 grand? I’m gay and would be mortified if this had happened to me. Still, suicide does not happen after one incident.
Sorry, but we are all responsible for our own actions. The suicide wouldn’t have been completely Ravi’s responsibility. Just like that driver in front of you losing his job. For us to go public and say how horrible this is when we wouldn’t even see this post if it didn’t have anything to do with a gay person or gay act…. That’s really not the message we want to world to see, is it? Equality, not special privileges, right? Right?
I have just totally lost respect for MenInMaine.
Coming from Norway, and being me (quite naïve), I think it should be enough that he has to live with being the cause of someones death. That in addition to the verdict. I mean, it’s human to make mistakes, and I bet you he probably regrets (though maybe for the wrong reasons) what he did.
I think this shows that being gay needs to get more normalized. If the guy didn’t find it so intriguing and exciting, it probably wouldn’t have happened. So, let’s all work on making the fact of being gay a normal thing, just as natural as being straight.
That said, the verdict could have been stricter. Sure, he tampered with evidence and witnesses because he got scared at how big this turned to be, but as several say, he was the cause of someones death because he was too immature to understand that such things are very private information. Both the fine and the jail could have been bigger and longer. Even here in Norway, that fine is laughable. And the jail? 30 days would’nt cover half of what you’d get here for that kind of thing.
As I’m no lawyer, I can’t professionally say anything about this case, but my strongest guess is that the judge put most weight on that this Ravi guy will have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life.
According to news articles, he was born in India, and deportation was considered.
Anyone else notice the story says the 18 year old killed himself on the 20th, but the twitter post about the live stream being done was posted sometime the 23rd (judging by the twitter timelines).
I almost feel like his actions were manslaughter if they resulted in the death of another human being. It’s really pathetic. I can’t describe how much my heart hurts when I read stuff like this.
I would have just beat the shit out of him repeatedly and make him watch gay porn all day everyday until his homophobia goes away. You think i’m joking but i’m dead serious. 30 days of jail would not do anything to him.
You forgot to mention the 300 hours community service.
Also, I am curious if Ravi had just verbally told everyone that Clementi was making out with a dude in his dorm, would he still have committed suicide? Would we still find Ravi as accountable for Clementi’s death?
Oh, and you forgot to mention that a minors who sext each other are registered as sex offenders.
Methinks? Caning? Jesus Christ how old are you?
I apologize, I take back my comment. Now I think it’s not unfair to deport him. Honestly, I’m surprised he is not deported yet.
That’s a bullshit ass judgment. There should have been hate crime charges and wrongful death charges added this is a total bullshit and the fact of the matter is he violated someone’s civil rights and still only got a slap on the wrist come one NYC?!! In LA he most likely would have been charged with involuntary manslaughter a hate crime and the 15 other charges and wou,d have gotten hard time not a fucking slap on the wrist!!!!
The reason I feel he deserves more time was from what I read he never really showed much remorse for his actions. And with how he composed himself in court, I don’t see the “stupid, naive college kid” the defense portrayed him as. No punishment here in our jails, just deport him back to India.
I disagree with this logic. In the eyes of the law, partial guilt is still guilt. If I help a bunch of guys rob a bank and they only have enough evidence charge me, guess what? I’m going to get charged, doesn’t matter if “other people helped.” Or “other people did more.” I’m still at risk of going to jail.
So, if you do or say something to someone else, who then does something rash as a result of this, you ARE partly to blame. The fact that others are also to blame doesn’t change that in the least.
That’s your definition of gay?
30 days is way to light especially considering the charges of evidence tampering and witness tampering.
Your giving yourself one now
i’m sorry, but is he remorseful? the judge in the case even comment that ravi had yet to apologize to the family for what he did. if he is “remorseful” it’s bc he got caught and had to go to trial.
wurd
Ravi did this intentionally to hurt Tyler Clementi. Even if Tyler committing suicide was not what Ravi intended it still happened. Ravi should be in prison for a far longer period of time than 30 days. I didn’t intend for him….. is a cop out.
I have to say, I saw his interview on 20/20 and this poor kid can’t believe what’s going on. I’m usually the first to assume guilt and demand swift justice but this guy really didn’t mean for it to go down like this. He seems genuinely confused how all of this turned out this way and I really don’t think he hates gays or did this with that kind of malice.
Ravi should definitely do time (preferably longer) to serve as an example, although I wouldn’t classify it as a hate crime. Let me explain: I’m not defending his actions, but I’m certain he had no idea Clementi would react the way he did, unlike the two guys who beat Matthew Shepard, knowing that he could die from his injuries and exposure when they left him tied to a fence in cold weather. Hopefully, the positive that will come out of this entire incident is that things will get better if you give them time. If the speculation that Clementi was fragile is correct, he could’ve done this after his first serious crush or relationship fell apart. All things considered, Ravi is guilty of being an insensitive and disrespecting asshole.
The fact is that he wasn’t charged with contributing to Tyler’s suicide, and because we subscribe to an idea of justice, that can’t (and shouldn’t) be considered when determining his punishment for the crimes he WAS charged with. By your reasoning, he was never blamed for it.
That said, thirty days in jail, a fine, and some community service send a really shitty message to the rest of the population about how the courts feel about hateful behavior. Thirty days, out of a potential ten-year sentence? And that, because Ravi has shown absolutely no remorse for his crime? It’d be laughable if I hadn’t cried when I heard about it. While it may be true that Ravi didn’t physically assault Tyler, this was without question a violent crime, insofar as Tyler was violated by an awful, cruel intrusion into his life. He was made a victim of the same sense of violation that a person might experience if their home was burglarized, but what was taken from him was much more personal than any possession – his dignity, privacy, and liberty. That he took his own life afterward is an added tragedy, and though as a citizen of this country I hold with the arguments against Ravi’s culpability there, as a person I know that such a violation was the sort of push that a suicidal person would have great difficulty resisting.
I can only hope that the prosecution wins their appeal in this matter, because what Ravi was convicted of is a horrifying act of cruelty, motivated by hate. I likewise hope that Tyler’s family brings as damaging a civil suit against Ravi as is permitted under law. Personally, I’d seek damages for everything including wrongful death. As Tyler’s roommate, he was reasonably likely to know that Tyler was in a depressed and vulnerable state of mind, and his cruelty would be easier to show as a contributing factor to suicide in that forum. If he can’t be made to spend a substantial portion of his life in prison, the least that can be done is to ruin his name, bury him in debt to the family he injured, and destroy his career prospects. The unrepentant bastard deserves nothing less.
I also wonder what this judge’s sentence would have been had the victim been a young woman. It seems so unreasonable to me that I have to suspect some amount of judicial bias.
Right. Real confused. “I broadcast his sexual encounters without his knowledge or consent, but I HAD NO IDEA THAT WOULD UPSET HIM, you’ve gotta believe me! Why is this even happening?”
Nonsense. Sociopaths (let’s twist it not, those are the kind of people who spy on, bully, and degrade others for fun) have a track record of being excellent actors – and, since in his mind he’s done nothing wrong, of course he’s confused! We’re all just ganging up on him over an innocent little prank.
The only reason deportation isn’t being considered is because Tyler’s sexual partner, who was only known as M.B. during the case, wrote to the judge and asked for leniency and to prevent deportation.
He said “Yay” about him making out with a dude? Interesting.
But yes, rather inappropriate.
Sounds like a nice guy.
Ravi is most definitely not remorseful; he has yet to even apologize. The only time he seemed emotional was when his mother spoke to the judge. She might tick me off even more. She said that her son was vilified by the media and gay community and that he was innocent. If that is what he learned at home it is no wonder he thinks he did nothing wrong.
I think Ravi should have gotten 1 or 2 years in prison. The 30 days is kind of an insult to the gravity of his actions. The judge could have given him 10 years, that was the high 0ption. Fines and community service are things you give to people who steal soda pop out of gas stations. With all the bullying , ‘it gets better’ , campaigns, this was an opportunity to show bullies that they can get severely punished for their actions, and that their actions can result in tragedy. I realize he wasn’t on trial for murder or Clementi’s suicide, but the connection is there, and his actions in all likelihood pushed Clementi over the edge.
I think you’re spot on. It’s not true that Ravi intended to hurt Tyler Clementi, (as others have written). To him, Clementi was nothing more than an object to be toyed with. The driving force behind what Ravi did was his own self-gratification.
Really? A friend of mine works for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office who was handling the case, and she told me that he was being deported at the end of his sentence, no matter how long or short it was. Though M.B. could have sent the letter after I heard that. They seemed pretty adamant about it, thought.
Is a bias crime not a hate crime? Would Ravi have done this if his roommate was straight and with a woman? We know, through Ravi’s own words, that Clementi’s homosexuality was a key aspect in what motivated Ravi.
Another travesty of our “legal” system, where the loss of live is only worth
a “Paris/Lindsay” jail term. Even Martha Stewart served 5 months for her crime.
Truly sad.
that was possibly the worst example i have ever heard…
It was a Hate Crime. I hope 30 days is long enough for him to get cornholed, then Deport his ass.
Chances are, yes he would have done the same thing and it would still be an invasion of privacy, with possibly the same outcome if the straight guy had similar issues (first time with a girl, etc.)
Just shows you that justice is a piece of SH*T! He’s should have gotten life, he was the cause of a young man taking his own life cause of the embarrassment this ass-h*e cause. I hope someone rapes him in prison and beat the living sh*t outta of him.
I personally don’t think this was a hate crime. I can’t believe a guy would kill himself after that as well, but I don’t know the whole story.
That being said, only 30 days for spying on someone making out!!?!? That is ridiculous.
What I think is funny here is all of the outrage over spying while this site advertises all sorts of alleged hidden camera videos.
Yes, we know that most of them are faked. But still. So many of us fantasize about invading others’ privacy. Yet, get outraged when it’s done on an innocent, fragile gay kid.
Let’s just say that just ONE of the hidden camera videos that people jack off to on the net is real. And that someone kills himself over it. Would we be asking for life in prison for the person who filmed it, and for the sites that sold it and promoted it?
I doubt it.