Recently, Michelle Carter, a young woman who provoked her boyfriend via text to commit suicide in 2014, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a court of law. The court found that Carter had used text messages and phone calls to encourage her then boyfriend, Conrad Roy, to go through with a plan to kill himself by via carbon monoxide suffocation in his truck. Roy was successful in his attempt. When the guilty verdict was read, both Carter and Roy's families were devastated, Carter's due to their daughter's guilt and Roy's due to the emotional toll of the suicide and trial, despite a favorable verdict for them. Carter will receive her sentence, which can be anything from a slap on the wrist to many years behind bars, in August.
Public opinion on the Michelle Carter verdict is divided. Some believe that the verdict is a rare triumph for the ever growing community of people struggling with mental health, a victory similar to justice being handed to a bully who drove someone to suicide. On the other side, there are some who believe the verdict violated Carter's freedom of speech, made an unfair example of Carter in the mysterious world of things said in teenage angst, and was motivated by a level of sexism.
This brings me to where I stand on the verdict. As someone who's struggled with a variety of mental health nuances since the spring of 2014, and after following the trial over time while reading up on the information, I have decided that I DO NOT stand with Michelle Carter. I am satisfied with the decision to find her guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Before I explain my reasoning, it's worth noting that I don't think Carter should do jail time. Rather, I think a fine, some probation, and several hours of community service will suffice. Putting Michelle Carter behind bars wouldn't benefit anyone, especially not Carter, who I do think can work to encourage other people to not make the same mistake she did.
However, make no mistake. My support of a lighter sentence for Carter does not mean I think she was innocent. She did a very bad thing. I believe that while it's important to support free speech, especially now with major bipartisan attempts for different forms of censorship, we must remember that free speech does not apply when it comes to hate speech. Hate speech goes beyond talk that is racist or sexist. Any kind of talk directed at an individual with the intent to traumatize them should be considered hate speech, and Michelle Carter degraded and traumatized Conrad Roy by making fun of his suicidal situation then encouraging him to kill himself. To me, that's disgusting. As far as her age is concerned, she was 17. That's isn't THAT young, certainly old enough to have contacted family or police or SOMEBODY about the situation. Conrad Roy was her boyfriend after all, so it's really alarming she took no measures whatsoever to at least check on his well-being after she made her comments. Finally, as for the sexism argument, that's just an argument being used by SJW's in order to try and protect Carter from being shamed, not an actual valid reason. Michelle Carter is a white, middle class, privileged person from Massachusetts. Privilege or social justice played no role in this.
In a world where too many people aren't getting the justice they deserve, Philando Castile being the most obvious example, we should be relieved that Michelle Carter was brought to justice, not making excuses for her. This verdict is a huge victory for the mental health community, and should set an example that hate speech against people suffering from mental health problems will not be tolerated.
