Tyler Clementi (December 19, 1991 – September 22, 2010) was an American student at

Rutgers University–New Brunswick Rutgers University–New Brunswick is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's public research university. It is located in New Brunswick and Piscataway. It is the oldest campus of the university, the others bein ...

who jumped to his death from the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United S ...

over the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

at the age of 18, on September 22, 2010. On September 19, 2010, Clementi's roommate, Dharun Ravi, used a

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripher ...

on his dorm room computer and his hallmate Molly Wei's computer to view, without Clementi's knowledge, Clementi kissing another man. Clementi eventually found out, after Ravi posted about the webcam incident on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. Two days later, Ravi urged friends and Twitter followers to watch via his webcam a second try between Clementi and his friend, though the viewing never occurred. Ravi and Wei were indicted for their roles in the webcam incidents, though they were not charged with a role in the suicide itself. On May 6, 2011, Wei entered a plea agreement allowing her to avoid prosecution. Ravi went to trial in early 2012, and was convicted on May 21, 2012 on all charges related to the webcam viewing, with the jury additionally finding that Clementi reasonably believed that Ravi had targeted him for his

romantic orientation A person's romantic orientation, also called affectional orientation, is the classification of the sex or gender with which a person experiences romantic attraction towards or is likely to have a romantic relationship with. The term is used a ...

, thus making Ravi guilty of committing

hate crimes A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

against Clementi. After an appeals court overturned parts of the conviction, Ravi pleaded guilty to one count of attempted invasion of privacy on October 27, 2016. Clementi's death brought national attention to the issue of

cyberbullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...

and the struggles facing

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

youth.

Background

Tyler Clementi was born on December 19, 1991, in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958,Ridgewood High School, he was a

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist; he played with the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra and participated in the Bergen Youth Orchestra as concertmaster. A few days before leaving home to attend college at Rutgers, Clementi told his parents that he was gay. While his father supported him, Clementi said in an instant message to a friend that his mother had "basically completely rejected" him. In later interviews, Clementi's mother explained that she had been "sad" and "quiet" as she processed the information and that she "felt a little betrayed" that he had not previously confided in her that he was gay. She later noted that she had not been ready as a parent to publicly acknowledge having a gay son, partly because her

evangelical church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...

had taught that homosexuality was a sin. After their conversation, she said that she and Tyler cried, hugged, and said they loved each other. Jane Clementi said that she and Tyler spent the rest of the week together and spoke frequently on the phone when he was at Rutgers. According to his mother, Tyler seemed "confident" and "comfortable" after coming out and told her of having visited New York City with new friends. Ravi and Wei met while students at

West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, also known as WW-P North, is a four-year public comprehensive high school located in Plainsboro Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades. ...

. Prior to arriving at Rutgers, Ravi tried to find information about his new roommate online. On

, Ravi referred to having seen Clementi's communications on JustUsBoys, a pornographic website and message board for gay men, and tweeted "Found out my roommate is gay". Clementi also researched his roommate and read postings on Ravi's Twitter page. After Ravi and Clementi moved in together, they rarely interacted or spoke. Ravi's text messages to friends described Clementi as shy and awkward. Clementi's online conversations and text messages referred to his amusement at Ravi's construction of a private changing area, but Clementi said he appreciated the fact that Ravi left him alone and did not force an excessively social atmosphere.

Webcam incidents

First viewings

On the nights of September 19 and 21, Clementi had asked Ravi to use their room for those evenings. On the first occasion, Ravi met Clementi's male friend, and Clementi said that the two wanted to be alone for the evening. Ravi has stated that he was worried about theft and that he left the computer in a state where he could view the webcam stream due to those concerns. Other witnesses testified that Ravi said he also wanted to confirm that Clementi was gay. Ravi and Wei viewed the video stream via iChat for a few seconds, seeing Clementi and his guest kissing. Later, Wei turned on the camera for another view with four others in the room, though Ravi was not there. During this second viewing, Wei and others saw Clementi and his guest kissing with their shirts off and their pants on. On September 20, Clementi, who followed Ravi's Twitter account, read a message that Ravi sent a few minutes after the webcam viewing the previous day. Ravi wrote: "Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay." According to a Rutgers employee, at about 4 a.m. on September 21, Clementi sent an online request for a single room because his "roommate used webcam to spy on me."

Second attempt

On September 21, Ravi posted text messages saying that there would be a viewing party to watch Clementi and his guest, along with directions on how to view it remotely. At 6:39 p.m., Ravi tweeted, "Anyone with iChat, I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12. Yes, it's happening again." Ravi had set up the webcam and pointed it towards Clementi's bed. When Clementi returned to his room, he noticed the camera and texted a friend saying he had unplugged Ravi's powerstrip to prevent further video streaming during his date. Ravi has said that he had changed his mind regarding the broadcast and disabled the camera himself by putting the computer in sleep mode. The same day, Clementi complained to a

resident assistant A resident assistant (RA), also known by a variety of other names, is a trained peer leader who coordinates activities in residence halls in colleges and universities, mental health and substance abuse residential facilities, or similar establish ...

and two other officials that Ravi had used a webcam to stream part of Clementi's private sexual encounter with another man. The resident assistant testified at trial that Clementi appeared shaky and uncomfortable when they met around 11 p.m., and in his official report of the meeting, the resident assistant said that Clementi requested both a room change and punishment for Ravi. In a formal e-mail request to the resident assistant made after the meeting, Clementi described the two viewing incidents, quoted from Ravi's Twitter postings, and wrote "I feel that my privacy has been violated and I am extremely uncomfortable sharing a room with someone who would act in this wildly inappropriate manner." Clementi wrote in detail on the JustUsBoys and

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Mana ...

message boards about complaints he filed through university channels about his roommate. His posts indicated that he did not want to share a room with Ravi after he learned about the first incident and then discovered that Ravi invited his Twitter followers to watch a second sexual encounter. "He he resident assistant/nowiki> seemed to take it seriously," Clementi wrote in a post about 15 hours before his jump from the George Washington Bridge.See: * * * * * * * Within a few hours, Clementi returned to his dorm room and he and Ravi were there for less than an hour.

Suicide

George Washington Bridge NYC full span from Hudson

On the evening of September 22, Clementi left the dorm room, bought food from the campus food court, and, around 6:30 p.m., headed toward the George Washington Bridge. By 8:42 p.m., he had posted from his cell phone on Facebook: "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry". Clementi left a suicide note which, along with documents on his computer, was never released to either the public or to the defense team in Ravi's trial, because Clementi's suicide was not directly related to the charges against Ravi. Clementi's wallet, car, cell phone, and computer were found on or near the bridge. His body was found on September 29, in the

just north of the bridge. The medical examiner gave

drowning Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ...

as the cause of death, noting blunt impact injuries to the torso as well.

Reaction

Shortly after Clementi's suicide, the

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network GLSEN (pronounced ''glisten''; formerly the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expr ...

stated, "There has been heightened media attention surrounding the suicides in New Jersey, Texas, California, Indiana, and Minnesota." The same month Clementi died, four other Americans were reported to have committed suicide after being taunted about their homosexuality.

At Rutgers University

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

students planned a "Black Friday" event to commemorate and memorialize Clementi. Rutgers president

Richard Levis McCormick Richard Levis McCormick (born December 26, 1947) is a historian, professor and president emeritus of Rutgers University. Early life The son of Richard Patrick McCormick, a Rutgers professor and administrator, and Katheryne C. Levis, a Universit ...

stated, "We grieve for him and for his family, friends and classmates as they deal with the tragic loss of a gifted young man...." Beginning in the 2011–2012 school year, a Rutgers University pilot program was instituted to permit students to choose their dorm roommates, regardless of gender. Members of the university's LGBT community told the administration that

gender-neutral housing Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, language, and other social institutions ( social structures or gender roles) should avoid disting ...

would help create a more inclusive environment for students. By September 2012, Rutgers had implemented numerous new programs to provide a more supportive environment for LGBT students, in reaction to the suicide, including new dormitory options and a new Center for Social Justice Education and LGBT Communities, and students reported a much-improved campus atmosphere.

Charitable response

In 2011, Tyler Clementi's parents, Jane and Joseph Clementi, established the Tyler Clementi Foundation, which focuses on promoting acceptance of LGBT teens and others marginalized by society, providing education against all forms of bullying including cyber bullying over the internet and promoting research and development into the causes and prevention of teenage suicide. On March 9, 2011, the Point Foundation, the nation's largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBT students of merit, announced that it had created the Tyler Clementi Point Scholarship to honor Clementi's memory. Clementi's parents said they hoped the scholarship would "raise awareness of young people who are subject to abuse through malicious bullying." In 2015, the Tyler Clementi Foundation launched #Day1, an anti-bullying campaign that aims to stop bullying before it begins, with support from

Caitlyn Jenner Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner; October 28, 1949) is an American media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee ...

Sarah Jessica Parker Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. His roles include the Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of the title character in '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), the voice of adult Simba in Disney's ''The Lion King'' (1994) ...

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...

, and others.

Government

Tyler Clementi's suicide, along with the suicides of several other gay teens who had been harassed, moved President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

, Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

and Secretary of Education

Arne Duncan Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator who served as United States Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008. A lifelong resident of Chicago, D ...

to express shock and sadness and speak out against any form of bullying.* * * * US Senator

Frank Lautenberg Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (; January 23, 1924 June 3, 2013) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was ori ...

and Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey introduced federal legislation titled the "Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act", to require schools that wish to receive federal funding to establish anti-bullying procedures and codes of conduct.

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

Governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

stated that the suicide was an "unspeakable tragedy... I don't know how those two

avi and Wei Avi is a given name, usually masculine, often a diminutive of Avram, Avraham, etc. It is sometimes feminine and a diminutive of the Hebrew spelling of Abigail. People with the given name include: * Avi (born 1937), Newbery award-winning Americ ...

are going to sleep at night" and added, "as the father of a 17-year-old, I can't imagine what those parents are feeling today - I can't." In response to Clementi's suicide and other, similar incidents,

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

representatives Valerie Vainieri Huttle and

Mary Pat Angelini Mary Pat Angelini (born December 8, 1954) is an American Republican Party politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly for the 11th legislative district from 2008 to 2016. Education Angelini graduated with a Bachelor of Social Wo ...

introduced a bipartisan "Anti-bullying Bill of Rights" in November 2010, which passed on a 71–1 vote in the New Jersey Assembly and a 30–0 vote in the New Jersey Senate. The

San Diego Unified School District San Diego Unified School District (formerly known as San Diego City Schools) is the school district based in San Diego, California, United States. It was founded in 1854. As of 2005 it represents over 200 institutions and has over 15,800 employee ...

Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution to provide a safe environment and equal opportunities for

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

, and questioning students.

Parents' statements

The day of the announcement of the verdict in the Dharun Ravi trial, Clementi's father, Joseph, released a statement, directed particularly at young people: In the same statement, Jane Clementi, Tyler's mother, noted the role that electronic media can have in singling out LGBT youth for being different. She said:

Advocacy

In the weeks following Clementi's suicide, schools around the area of his residence held vigils in memory of his death. Students at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...

gathered for a candlelight vigil, and students and staff at

Pascack Hills High School Pascack Hills High School (PHHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school, one of two secondary schools serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Pascack Valley Regional High School District in Bergen County, New ...

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Ridgewood where Clementi lived, wore all black to mourn his death. The incident brought wider nationwide attention to bullying of LGBT youth. "

Spirit Day Spirit Day is an annual LGBTQ awareness day observed on the third Thursday in October. Started in 2010 by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan, it was initially created in response to a rash of widely publicized bullying-related suicides of ga ...

", first observed on October 20, 2010, was established in which people wear the color purple to show support for

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an ...

victims among LGBT youth. Clementi's suicide inspired the establishment of Spirit Day, and the day received widespread support from

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayal ...

, Hollywood

celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

and over 1.6 million

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

users. The

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for ...

, a gay-rights advocacy organization, released a plan aimed at increasing awareness of gay-related suicide and harassment around the U.S. According to gay activist William Dobbs, around 10,000 people expressed support on social networking websites for lodging more serious criminal charges, such as

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

, against Ravi and Wei, a position that Dobbs himself criticized as a rush to judgment before an investigation had taken place. However, journalist Jason St. Amand has noted that "there are surprisingly several gay activists who are skeptical about the case and believe that Ravi is being used as a scapegoat and should receive a lesser sentence." William Dobbs has criticized the use of hate crime charges and what he considers to have been a hurried scapegoating of Ravi and Wei. Journalist J. Bryan Lowder has similarly criticized hate-crime laws, arguing that Ravi's motives are difficult to know, and that Ravi should not be blamed for attitudes that are "pervasive in our culture".

Dan Savage Daniel Keenan Savage (born October 7, 1964) is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBT community activist. He writes ''Savage Love'', an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husba ...

, co-founder of the

It Gets Better Project It Gets Better is an Internet-based 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth around the globe. It was founded in the United States by gay activist, author, m ...

, has written that, although he considers Ravi's actions to have been "the last straw" that triggered Clementi's suicide, he notes that Clementi's guest did not die by suicide, and concludes that there must have been additional factors, preceding the webcam incidents, contributing to the suicide. Savage says that he deplores the "mob mentality" that focuses on "a couple of stupid teenagers who should've known better but didn't." He argues that attention should also be directed toward the "adults and institutions" in society who "perpetuate anti-gay prejudice", and he concludes that to "pin all the blame" on Ravi and Wei amounts to "a coverup". After Ravi was sentenced, Savage said he had been "express ngmisgivings about the severity of the sentence that Ravi faced. But a 30 day sentence is far, far too lenient—a slap on the wrist." Eric Marcus has compared his own father's suicide with Clementi's, and said that it will not be possible to know the real reasons for Clementi's suicide. He concluded that "At best, we can say that Ravi's spying and subsequent Twitter messages might have triggered Clementi's suicide, which is different from causing his suicide... We've turned Tyler Clementi into a two-dimensional symbol of anti-gay bullying and Dharun Ravi into a scapegoat. This is a case that screams out for compassion and understanding." The Tyler Clementi Institute for Internet Safety, a legal institute to assist other victims of cyberbullying, was launched in October 2015.

Criticism of media coverage

Soon after invasion of privacy charges were brought against Ravi and Wei, gay advocacy groups and bloggers were vocal in their support for bringing hate-crime charges against the defendants. After the prosecutors issued a public statement that they were investigating whether bias played a role in the incident, according to Chris Cuomo of ABC News, a "media floodgate of distortion" ensued. Writing in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', Ian Parker has stated that some of the media coverage and the public outcry against Ravi have exaggerated Ravi's role in the incident, writing that after Clementi's suicide "it became widely understood that a closeted student at Rutgers had committed suicide after video of him having sex with a man was secretly shot and posted online. In fact, there was no posting, no observed sex, and no closet."

In popular culture

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom ''Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". Sh ...

described herself as "devastated" by Clementi's death, stating, "Something must be done. This month alone, there has been a shocking number of news stories about teens who have been teased and bullied and then committed suicide... This needs to be a wake-up call to everyone: teenage bullying and teasing is an epidemic in this country, and the death rate is climbing." The band

Rise Against Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rooted in hardc ...

released a song, " Make It Stop (September's Children)", which mentions the names of Tyler Clementi and four other young people who died by suicide in September 2010 after being bullied based on their sexual orientation.

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

gave tribute to Clementi by showing a picture of him and other gay teens who have died by suicide during the " Nobody Knows Me" video interlude in the MDNA Tour. Canadian musician

Owen Pallett Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album '' He Poos Clouds''. Palle ...

released a song called "The Secret Seven" on his 2014 album '' In Conflict'' that addresses Clementi. Monica Lewinsky said that Clementi's story inspired her to speak out against cyberbullying, in a

TED talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

called ''The Price of Shame''.

Court case

On September 28, 2010, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei were each charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for the September 19 webcam transmission. Ravi was charged with two additional counts for the September 21 viewing attempt. On April 20, 2011, a Middlesex County grand jury indicted Ravi on 15 counts of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, tampering with evidence, witness tampering, and hindering apprehension or prosecution. On May 6, 2011, Wei entered a plea agreement allowing her to avoid prosecution in exchange for her testimony against Ravi, 300 hours of community service, counseling, and classes on dealing with people of alternative lifestyles. On March 16, 2012, Ravi was convicted on all 15 counts for his role in the webcam spying incidents. 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 alternative lifestyles. Both the prosecutors and Ravi filed separate appeals. On June 18, 2012, Ravi was released from jail after 20 days of his sentence. Federal immigration authorities said that Ravi would not be deported to India. In February 2016, Ravi asked the courts to overturn his convictions following a 2015

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases challenging th ...

ruling that struck down as unconstitutionally vague a part of the law under which he was charged. In September 2016, the convictions were overturned by an appeals court in New Jersey, in a decision supported by prosecutors because of the earlier ruling on constitutionality. A request to maintain the convictions for other crimes, such as invasion of privacy and witness tampering, was denied because of the influence bias allegations. Ravi accepted a plea deal on October 27, 2016, and pleaded guilty to one count of attempted invasion of privacy, a third-degree felony. He was sentenced to time already served and fines paid, and the remaining charges against him were dropped.

References

External links

Tyler Clementi Foundation

Tyler Clementi Point Scholarship
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clementi, Tyler 2010 in LGBT history 2010 in New York City Bullying and suicide College students who committed suicide Deaths by person in New York City Gay history LGBT history in New York City Suicide of Tyler Clementi Suicides by jumping in New York City Victims of cyberbullying Discrimination against LGBT people in the United States Bullying in the United States September 2010 events in the United States LGBT-related suicides 2010 suicides 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people National LGBTQ Wall of Honor