What Is Hope Witsell's Crime

When Jeannette begins school in Welch, an African American girl Dinitia Hewitt and her friends harassed and beat up Jeannette for being scrawny and filthy. She is constantly made fun of because it is apparent that she lives in poverty. The other children do not accept other that aren’t like them and Jeannette is no exception. Her worn clothes and grimy hair are like a neon sign shouting about her life in poverty which makes Jeannette an easy target to bullies. Jeannette tries very hard to stand up for herself, however, the bullying only stops once other realize that living in poverty and being different was not Jeannette’s

Having to go through sexual assault and then a year of bullying made Melinda speak up. Melinda went down a rough road in her life. Through all this Melinda grew strength and wisdom. At the school Melinda warned the girls about what Andy is capable of doing. She told Rachelle to watch out and to be careful around him. In Melinda’s later years she began writing her about story to help her express her feelings. She began warning others what sexual assault can do people and the harms of bullying. Even tho Melinda’s experience harmed her in many ways it gave her a story to help

When students are bullied, they are encouraged to speak up about it to a teacher or some other adult; however, many do not, because they may think their cases are not important enough to be told, because no one will believe their stories, or because they are embarrassed by what happened. As these cases turn from simple bullying to a more severe event, this inability to speak up only increases. Laurie Halse Anderson shows this effect with being raped, as well as the emotional damage that goes with it. Through Melinda’s experiences in Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson’s writing reflects the time in which it was written, her views on teens and the adolescent years, and her early life.

The interview I conducted took place in the courtyard of my complex in Smallville, with the interviewee and myself. For the purpose of his paper and to protect the adolescent privacy lets call her Regina. Regina is a fourteen-year-old adolescent female of Africa American descent. She is above average in height and carries a very shy and nonchalance deposition. She is a very attractive young lady and does above average work in her school setting. She appears to be a normal every day child with a lifetime of experiences awaiting her.

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenage girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug when he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White). As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected they can become from their children in a social media world.

Jennifer Brown’s novel, Hate List, explores the issues surrounding bullying, school shootings, and recovering after trauma. It tells the stogy of Valerie, a high school girl who is horribly bullied at school, and her boyfriend Nick who experiences similar abuse. Together they compile a list of things, and people, who they hate. Taking Valerie by complete surprise, Nick opens fires in their school, killing many of those on the list. Brown focuses her novel on Valerie and her struggling mental state.

of 64 and whose mind was considered to be like the mind of an eight-year old (Hanley, 1993). When she was twelve years old, she had her first sexual encounter and started taking birth control. Just like most high school teenagers growing up, she just wanted to fit in with the other kids (Hanley, 1993). Those who were a part of the victim’s life such as her family, teachers and mental health specialists, all described her as having a troubled life emotionally, socially and educationally (Hanley, 1993). Fisher’s education was different than the education that typical children received because she spent most of her school years attending classes for the learning impaired and stayed in those classes until she could no longer receive public education. Fisher looked up to these upperclassmen boys and when she was urged to go to the basement that day, she went along, being promised a date with one of their brothers whom she admired. The victim in the Steubenville High School rape was sixteen years old when the rape occurred. I was not able to find too much information regarding the victim. However, the Author Joanna Walters mentions that the victim was an honors student and an accomplished athlete at school (Walters, 2013).

Melinda Sordino was just a young teenage girl trying to have some fun. Now, she is loathed by afar for something nobody understands. During a summer party, Melinda drunkenly fumbled for the phone and dialed the cops. As she enters her freshman year of high school, her friends refuse to talk to her, and she escapes into the dark forests of her mind. “I am Outcast” (Anderson 4). But something about that party was not right. Something she tried not to relive but to forget. “I have worked so hard to forget every second of that stupid party, and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can’t tell them what really happened. I can’t even look at that part of myself” (Anderson 28). Depression is a

Suzie, a seventeen-year-old student at Central High School in Bristol, Virginia, sent some photographs of herself to her, at the time, boyfriend Cyrus. After the relationship soured, Cyrus forwarded the most revealing pictures to his upperclassmen friends, who started to show unwanted attention to Suzie. Suzie’s parents then contacted the school’s principal, Mrs. Sheevers who then confronted Cyrus, who denied the allegations. The principal then searched Cyrus for his phone, but Cyrus did not have his phone on him at the time, so they checked his locker and found the phone. On the phone, they found evidence that Cyrus had indeed sent the photos to other boys. The principal then suspended Cyrus for two weeks. Cyrus then filed a lawsuit against both the school district and the principal on the grounds that both his First and Fourth Amendment rights had

Many bullying scenarios have resulted in self harm or even suicide. Just this past June, a girl in Tampa, Florida, committed suicide because of a friend taking a naked picture of her without her permission and shared it on social media. A reporter from Channel 8 News, quotes a psychiatrist, Dr. Walter Afield: “Teenagers are very nasty to each other because they’re so nervous and so forth.When they bully, well you can yell, you can shout, you can shoot back but when it comes on the internet so quickly and so instantly and all around. It gets very aggressive.” 15-year-old was found dead by her aunt from a gunshot in her

Laurie Halse Anderson’s fiction novel “Speak” relates the story of a girl from Syracuse, New York. This story surrounds Melinda Sordino who was victimized by Andy Evans at a high school party. She was afterwards labeled an outcast within her school after calling the police to the barn where they all were, getting many of her friends and classmates in trouble for underage drinking. Since none of Melinda’s friends were aware of the rape, they all believed she called the police just to bust them. In the second half of Melinda’s school year, Andy Evans confronts her and attempts to rape her again; however, this is when Melinda finally finds her voice and gets help before Andy Evans takes advantage of

Natalie Sterling, a seventeen year old senior at Ross Academy had just won class president and beat her opponent Mike Domski. Mike was the kind of guy that Natalie and her best friend Autumn tried to stay away from. The girls at Ross Academy were known as demeaning and “boy crazy.” One day, during the pep rally a bunch of freshman dressed in trampy clothing and started to dance inappropriately. The leader’s name was Spencer a girl Natalie used to babysit for. The flirty freshman called themselves “Prostitutes” or Ross Academy prostitutes. Not only was Natalie embarrassed and angry by Spencers action but, she was disappointed. When the principal and Ms. Bee the student council head were talking to the girls punishments Natalie barged in. Natalie explained how she wanted to have a lock-in for all the girls in trouble and any others from school who wanted to come, about feminism and women's rights. Ms. Bee and Natalie agreed that it would be a good idea for

“After a traumatic experience, the human system of self preservation seems to go into permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment” (Judith Lewis Herman). The psychoanalyst Lewis Herman describes how encountering agonizing pain causes individuals to become more cautious as a result. The psychoanalytic lens is based on Freudian theories and asserts that “ people’s behavior is affected by their unconscious:...the notion that human beings are motivated, even driven, by desire, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are unaware…” (Tyson 14-15) High schools a place where tragedy are brought upon people, but their voices aren’t heard. Melinda, a high school freshman, is the protagonist in Laurie Halse Anderson’s book, Speak.

Lindsey Ames, a soon to be high school freshman, views her new school as an opportunity to start over. With the help of her new established friends, Teeny and Grouper, she believes that a change in her wardrobe will eliminate her image that was so haunting and discomforting in the past. Lindsey is successful for a while until her worst possible nightmare appears, her long-time adversary, Avery. The same spoiled bully that ruined her whole middle school life, now reminds Lindsey of her place. As the book continues, the main character’s coping strategies begin to be visible to the reader. Lindsey and her friends, without including the adults, struggle to manage the bullying. Despite this immutable problem, there are other things on Lindsey’s mind. She wants to join the National Honor Society, she wants to take Italian, she wants a cute boy to ask her out, but most of all she wants to change her reputation. However, this does not happen so quickly. As tensions rise, Lindsey faces the complex nature of bullying, and experiences the ups and downs of life as a high school teen.

In the riveting documentary Audrie & Daisy, husband and wife director team Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk retrace the events leading up to the harrowing sexual assaults of three teenaged girls; Audrie Pott, Daisy Coleman, and Paige Parkhurst, and expose the agonizing after effects and exploitation of the assaults. Subsequent interviews with family members, friends and law enforcement officials give important details about the aftermath of the events, and introduce viewers to possibly the biggest villain of all, Sherriff Darren White of Maryville, Missouri. Throughout the documentary White appears smug while he states that “as County Sheriff, “the buck stops here” (Darren White), and when asked about the crimes committed by Maryville’s football star, he rebuts with “was there a crime?” (Darren White) As the film moves through the twists and turns of the cases, the settings, conflicts, and tragedies are enhanced by the use of montage, long and subjective shots, close-ups and personal sketches that submerge the audience into the victim’s point of view. At the conclusion of the film, the viewer is left to decide what constitutes sexual assault and rape, and if society and law enforcement are to blame for the today’s ‘rape culture’ acceptance and the continued victimization of young girls. It also reveals how much can be hidden from parents, and how disconnected parents become from their children in a social media world.