Dharun Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 300 hours of community service and $10,000 fine. He will have to report to the Middlesex County Jail on May 31st to serve out his 30 days.
Read details on the case here:
Dharun Ravi Sentenced To 30 Days In Jail (LIVE STREAM)
The maximum sentence he could have faced in 10 years in prison and deportation. While that would have been too harsh of a punishment for Ravi, I do not find the current sentence of any worth. For a boy who felt no real remorse about his actions, why are we taking a reduced sentence into consideration. In the words of Judge Bermann, “I heard this jury say guilty 288 times, and I haven’t heard you apologize once.”
Ravi has been handed life on a golden platter and even with his conviction on 15 counts including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy, he has gotten away with murder. He had the option not to serve prison time had he taken the settlement that was offered to him, yet he chose not to. And now everyone is shocked that he is going to prison? The boy still has a chance at getting an education (which he should not have fucked up in the first place), a chance at life, a job, a family that still loves him. This is a lot more than we can say about Tyler Clementi. And yes, I personally find Ravi 100% responsible in Tyler’s death.
Do you think the sentence was harsh enough?
Very unfair. Jeez… he is getting away.. but i disagree on the accord tht he might have another chance at life.. its ruined for all i can see.. and i hope it is too… but he got wat he wanted the most.No Deportation.
And ya i don’t think dharun is to be blamed 100% for tyler’s suicide..His un-accepting mother/family/church also played its part. Dharun’s act must have been the final push. I can’t sympathize with someone who choose to commit suicide.. but to be pushed to that, dharun deserves a harsher punishment.
“and I haven’t heard you apologize once.”
says it all.
He did apologize to Clementi through SMS, but it reached seconds after he jumped off the bridge. Also, experts believe that it is almost certain that he was advised against apologizing in the court by his lawyers, lest it be held as an admission of guilt.
Hen A: The apology text message was sent minutes after Tyler posted on FB that he is jumping off the Washington bridge. It was more of a cover up attempt than a sincere apology. Tyler’s brother even mentioned it in his victim impact statement at the courthouse on the day of sentencing.
Dharun appeared on ABC’s 20/20 program and after the verdict and even there he didn’t apologize, take any responsibility and acted like “these things happen in college”. That is why many feel he has shown no remorse.
Fair.
What he did was wrong. But he was not directly responsible for Tyler’s suicide. Tyler had just come out to his family and was completely rejected by his mother, which weighed emotionally on him. I am inclined to believe he received a lot of passive abuse even when he was in the closet, being told by his church how bad it was to be gay. I am sure high school would have been a challenge too. Tyler left a suicide note before he died, the contents of which were never taken into account in the court, and were never made public. So we don’t know what really pushed him into taking such an extreme step. In the case as well, he was not being tried for Clementi’s suicide.
In a case which was fought as much outside as inside the courtroom, at a time when gay suicides had caught the nation’s attention as never before, and when people were eager to set examples, I am happy that Ravi was not made a scapegoat.
He did a very bad thing, and he has not gone scott free. He will be serving 30 days in jail, in addition to three year’s probation, 300 hours of community service, counseling about cyberbullying and alternate lifestyles and $10000 fine. Not to mention being on public trial for about 20 months.
I think it has been fair. More importantly, I think there are lessons to be learnt from this trial. People like Ravi should think again before resorting to making fun of easy targets. People like Tyler should not give up, no matter what. For the rest of us potential easy targets, we should be happy that cases like this are catching public attention in arguably the worlds strongest democracy and that we are having these discussions.
I have mixed feelings about the sentence. Coming to the suicide, I agree with you that Dharun is not responsible. But at the same time, I also don’t buy Dharun’s argument that he and his actions were insignificant to Tyler. Though there could be many reasons (including rejection by family) why Tyler chose that end, do you think the harassment he faced from Ravi had no impact on his last days? Records show that Tyler checked Dharun’s Twitter page several times before jumping off the bridge.
Ravi was not being tried for Tyler’s suicide. Tyler probably was thinking about suicide before anything related to Ravi happened. Tyler’s mother has admitted that he had asked her to take him to a tour of all the bridges before Ravi episode happened. Also, there were documents on his computer and the suicide note which were never released in the court.
I agree with you that Ravi acted like a jerk with how he behaved with Tyler. But considering how badly the media covered the entire episode specially during the initial days, taking into account his age and most likely advise by his lawyers to not apologize in the court, I believe that his not showing any remorse at all might be an early call. Or at least thats what I sincerely hope for. Also someone pointed out in NYT that had Ravi apologized in the court, then not only would it have been considered as an admission of guilt, but also a basis for a defamation civil lawsuit later on, which is why his lawyers might have advised him against it.
Either way, this case should be a lesson for a lot of people. May Tyler’s soul rest in peace.
It is sad that Tyler’s mother sat in the court trying to hold Ravi accountable for Tyler’s suicide, when she could not accept and rejected her son for pretty much the same reasons.
who can you really blame huh? end of the day.. you can fight and not give up ever.. you can fight and give up at some point or just give up and don’t fight at all. Ultimately its all upto the individual. End of the day he, tyler chose to jump.