Roommate in Rutgers spying/suicide case gets 30 days in jail. Is that fair?
Too little time or too much?
A judge today sentenced former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi to 30 days in jail and 300 hours of community service for using a video camera to spy on his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi, during a romantic encounter in the dorm. Clementi later jumped from a bridge to his death.
The sentence didn’t satisfy either side. Ravi’s attorneys argued that he shouldn’t spend any time in jail, while prosecutors pushed for a much longer sentence for the charges, including invasion of privacy, witness tampering, tampering of evidence and a hate crime based on bias intimidation.
Telling the crowded courtroom that Ravi had no prior record, Judge Glenn Berman said, “I do not believe he hated Tyler Clementi … but I do believe he acted out of colossal insensitivity.”
This tragic case mobilized people all over the country to address the frequent bullying of gay teens.
Judge Glenn Berman addressed Ravi before announcing his sentence, saying: “Nothing I say is intended in any way to disparage you or demean you. I don’t even know you.”
“But I heard this jury say ‘guilty’ 288 times — 24 questions, 12 jurors — that’s the multiplication. And I haven’t heard you apologize once,” he said as Ravi sat silently, his chin often resting on his fist. “You cannot expunge the conduct or the pain you caused.”
Ravi, sitting in a dark suit and tie, sat quietly with his eyes downcast, as he had throughout the morning as Clementi’s parents, brother, and prosecutors appealed for prison time, rejecting arguments that as a first-time offender, Ravi should be spared incarcerations.
“All of the defendant’s actions … were planned, were purposeful, and were malicious,” prosecutor Julia McClure said, describing Ravi as an arrogant attention-seeker and dismissing the defense claim that Ravi meant no harm when he secretly filmed Clementi. It “defies logic and common sense,” she said.
“The jury’s verdict gave some measure of justice … but justice can only be fully realized by respecting and enforcing the law and punishing this defendant for his conduct, his criminal acts,” she said.
Defense attorney Steve Altman read a statement to Berman after Clementi’s mother, father, brother and a man secretly filmed with Clementi demanded prison time for Ravi.
Altman said he had come before the packed courtroom with an anxiety “1,000-fold more than what I’ve ever experienced before” because he knew he needed to persuade Berman to keep Ravi out of jail. “I know that’s climbing a mountain,” he said, but he repeated his argument that the case had been overshadowed by Clementi’s suicide even though Ravi was not charged in his death.
“This isn’t about a simple invasion of privacy,” he said. “This case is being tried and it’s being treated and exists today as if it’s a murder case.” Even the victim impact statements “are replete with suggestions … that Dharun has some responsibility, some role in that terrible, terrible choice of Tyler’s.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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68 comments Add your comment
skipper
May 22nd, 2012
9:41 am
@ I love Teaching,
This is a much more recent (and debatable) situation. You are (apparantly) a teacher. I come from a family of teachers. If you have taught your students something well, it is hard to IMMEDIATELY go back and convince them that everything you drilled on their head is now completely wrong. Very recently, the military, etc. banned gays, then don’t ask-don’t tell, etc. came in. This is much more of a recent occurance than the flat-earth theory………so if you really are a teacher, then don’t use old cliche’ nonsense to justify a point….it makes you look like you may have just slid by………..you can come up with a million sayings applicable to anything: “Birds of a feather flock together” or “opposites attract.” (Which is it?) Using that old flat earth theory is about a crock……………defend your argument like a teacher; I defended mine relaying what I was taught…..
Howard Finkelstein
May 22nd, 2012
10:20 am
“witness/evidence tampering”
OMG…what a joke. You folks are just lost lost lost.
USA
May 22nd, 2012
11:06 am
NO-NO-NO the sentence was NOT fair! He should be deported OUT of this country NOW! I guarantee if the roles were reversed, white student still alive and Indian student dead, the results would be COMPLETELY different! I am sick and tired of the USA walking on eggshells around other races and religions. Fair is fair! Wrong is wrong! I am tired of people using their skin color and religion to get out of their wrongdoings-OWN YOUR MISTAKES!!!!
V for Vendetta
May 22nd, 2012
11:22 am
Skipper,
I think it is you who is spouting irrelevant and spurious logic. So by your standards, anything we have taught students should not be reversed–even if found to be incorrect–because it might be hard for them to understand? I Love Teaching’s example is accurate because, at one point, some people DID have to make a radical knowledge switch when that information was presented to them. So does any generation of learners who are exposed to a radical phase shift in knowledge. Funny though, at the center of knowledge suppression one always seems to find religion. Galileo? Darwin? Two perfect examples of common knowledge being upended in favor of the more worldly (and accurate) scientific knowledge.
BT
May 22nd, 2012
11:37 am
I think the filming was stupid on the roomates part…pranks are pranks. But the student who died had a bigger issue than being caught on tape. I am sorry but homosexuality is not normal behavior so you cannot feel comfortable with yourself.
Ron F.
May 22nd, 2012
12:17 pm
If we follow skipper’s logic, then all the folks who were taught minorities were bad but decided later on their own that they weren’t should be punished for disobeying their parents’ teaching.
“And yes, this IS a much different issue than civil rights…….even though there were Jim Crow laws, etc. it was not taught that being black was a perversion” No, they were taught that they were animals that should have dogs turned loose on them, that they weren’t worthy of an education or the right to vote. They weren’t perverse, they just weren’t human. And any law that denies a human the right to choose his or her lifestyle is, in point of fact, infringing on civil rights. How narrow minded one must be to teach one’s children that sexuality is perverse…
Ron F.
May 22nd, 2012
12:21 pm
As to this case, would the punishment have differed if the young person committing suicide had been “straight” instead of homosexual? I wonder if public perception would be different if the person committing suicide had been a young woman caught with her boyfriend instead? I don’t think we can hold Ravi responsible directly for the suicide, but is thirty days enough for putting someone’s private life on the internet? It’s not like he made a video and showed a few friends. He purposely put it on the internet specifically to embarrass and belittle his roommate. Regardless of sexual orientation, that was wrong and worth more time IMO.
TimeOut
May 22nd, 2012
12:47 pm
I am disappointed that we don’t include screening for sociopaths when admitting students to our universities. It sickened me to read of other Indians’ support for this unrepentant sociopath. His age is no excuse. The weakness of the victim is no excuse. I wish they would deport him along with all other non-citizens who act like trash. Heck, I wish we had a place to which we could send our own trashy citizens. What would be the criterion? Commission of a crime of any kind. I think we would experience better better from those who arrive here from other locations if they came with the full knowledge that they cannot afford so much as a traffic ticket if they wish to reside here. We have no choice to put up with such garbage from our own, and respond with our own legal system’s tools. I don’t see why we have to put up with ANY criminal behavior from non-citizens.
skipper
May 22nd, 2012
2:28 pm
@timeout,
Sociopath? College prank; period! The “victim” had more issues than this guy! Its bad he is dead, but folks who jump have the real issues………………
Linda
May 22nd, 2012
3:01 pm
Enter your comments here
Linda
May 22nd, 2012
3:28 pm
ok,here’s my opinion,first of all doesn’t matter straight,gay,males,females,young adults in college are going to do”whatever”behind closed doors,so everyone complaining about that needs to think back to when they were in college.But that’s not the crime here.Filming 2 “adults”without their knowledge is a crime.Broadcasting it on You-Tube is more then a Prank! However the ‘victim’Tyler knowingly brought in a person from outside the dorm,which is a matter for the dorm to handle,IF Ravi or someone knew of this activity that supposedly took place more then once,would have reported this,thus saving the aftermath all this could have been avoided,and Tyler and his partner would be the guilty ones! However Ravi did not report this,instead took it upon himself to film and air on You-Tube,that is where this became a whole different situation.Unfortunately Tyler,beyond embarrassed and humiliated took matters into his own hands choosing suicide,while the partner,who didn’t belong in this dorm,did not,and is asking Ravi not to be sent back to his Country.There are two sides to every story,and again I say straight or gay,no matter,all 3 involved are at fault.Why Tyler decided to take it to the level of killing himself,we will never know! (As far as the penalty that’s up to the courts,but I think You-Tube also needs to be dealt with as well,also the partner who didn’t belong in the dorm,that’s another story)
L.A.F.
May 22nd, 2012
3:49 pm
Race,Religion,Sexual orientation,or coming from another Country,is Not the issue,All Three of those involved in this situation(Ravi,Tyler,and the partner)are All at Fault!!! Ravi for choosing Not to report what was going on several times,choosing to take matters into his own hands by filming and then putting it on YouTube is way more then a Prank!!! Tyler knowingly brought in an outsider to engage in activities,which are I am sure are Against Dorm regulations(no matter if male or female)and the partner who didn’t belong in the dorm,also is involved. Tyler choosing to commit suicide instead of facing the consequences while tragic,made his choice,and for reasons we will Never know. I feel for the parents of Tyler,and Ravi’s parents as well.The partner is unknown to me therefore I doubt his parents even know. The Justice system needs to enforce stricter laws,YouTube needs to be censored,and people from other countries need to know the Laws of this Country while they are here!!!
TimeOut
May 22nd, 2012
7:26 pm
@skipper…………..I disagree. This person lacks a fully formed conscience. This is not a college prank. It is the behavior of someone for whom empathy is nonexistent. It is time for us to stop saying things such as ‘boys will be boys.’
L.A.F.
May 22nd, 2012
10:28 pm
this is not “boys will be boys”,these are 18+young men,in college,learning how to grow up and be adults.Other Countries have their children going to school at much younger ages then America does,and they take on responsibilities long before our kids here do. Obviously Tyler and his partner were “old enough”to choose to engage in sexual activity,the partner did not belong in the dorm where Tyler and Ravi roomed.That started the situation,Ravi should have went to an administrator to report what supposedly was going on more then once,leaving Ravi unable to get into his room. Instead Ravi took measures to set up a camera and secretly tape the two young adults in whatever they were doing,there was his first mistake.Even then,after having the proof he could have still reported it,but no he choose to make a spectical of the situation by putting the film on youtube,which was by no means simply a prank! All three of these young adults are at fault,but the ultimate choice that Tyler made,for whatever reason was very extreme,leads me to believe something else was wrong here.Tyler unfortunately is gone,by his own hands,but Ravi and the partner need to account for their actions that led to this tragic event. So sorry for the parents of these young men.PS.if 18 is old enough to go to war,it is old enough to make responsible decisions and suffer the consequences. RIP~Tyler
Max mom
May 23rd, 2012
12:20 am
Enter your comments here
MaxMom
May 23rd, 2012
12:25 am
Deport him. It is hard enough for American kids to get into the”good” schools. This type of behavior should not be allowed. If you break the laws of the country you are invited to school in you should be asked to leave. Shame on him. This story did however compell me to have a discussion with my 18 year old about bullying at college
Anonmom
May 23rd, 2012
8:11 pm
It is possible that Ravi tried to address it with his RA and did not get anywhere — those are facts we don’t have… sometimes the RAs aren’t very good. I think some of these recent posts are very good. I think the real problem I have with it is that I’m not sure that when ‘kids” or “young adults” (high school/college or even out of college) post things like this on You Tube that there’s any recognition that there’s anything wrong with it… I think that the availability of cameras on cell phones and computers for this “computer generation” has them not thinking twice about it so he probably had no idea that what he was doing was so likely to lead to so much trouble — he was probably just taking out some frustration of having to deal with the situation as he went along. Again, I don’t approve — just as the mom of boys in the age group I can kind of understand maybe where he was coming from with a roommate driving him crazy — whether he approved or didn’t approve — wihether straight (like my son’s roommate) or gay (like this one) — it was forced upon him in his room and was obviously driving him crazy! Jail time? Maybe serious community service.
Stacey
May 24th, 2012
6:27 pm
Ravi is NOT, I repeat, NOT, getting what he deserves. This incident reminded me too much of a personal incident I went through 13 yrs ago in which an evil supervisor tricked me into signing a form to release my medical information resulting in everyone seeing before and after photos of a breast reduction plus other personal health information..including childhood things that happened in my past. It too was read all over the office and posted on the computer and is probably still floating out there in cyberspace somewhere. And of all things, I made enemies when I went after her.
And she never once apologized, she only gave long, elaborate excuses as to why she did what she did. I eventually let it go after giving it to God. But I do recall experiencing a long recovery and was an inch from suicide immediately after she did what she did. I also experienced post traumatic stress for years along w/ nightmares, anxiety, depression & panic attacks and feelings of guilt, shame and just of overall no control over my life… because of her evil tendencies like Ravi’s which he reminds me of her with his blank, staring eyes, and evil, calloused persona. I feel for the Clementi family…I pray for them and I pray for Ravi too…but Clementi did not deserve that…Ravi’s actions were criminal and with intent to do harm…may Clementi rest in peace now. I also pray they overcome the wrongness of it all through Jesus…He is the only way to overcome something like that.