On July 12, 2014, at only 18-years-old, Conrad Roy III took his own life by locking himself in his truck and filling it with Carbon Monoxide.
His girlfriend, Michelle Carter, knew of the suicide as it was occurring. The pair exchanged thousands of texts in the month leading up to the suicide where Roy explicitly states his plan. Instead of dissuading her boyfriend, Carter helped Roy figure out how to fill his truck with Carbon Monoxide and encourages him to go through with it.
According to a text sent to a friend a few months later, Carter admits that Roy stepped out of the vehicle to call her during the suicide. He was scared because he could feel it working and she told him to get back inside of the vehicle.
In the days leading up to the suicide, Carter sent a series of texts to Roy that can best be described as disturbing. She shames him multiple times for "pushing off" his suicide and yells at him when she discovers that he had not yet bought a generator to assist in the suicide (Source: CNN).
Carter was declared guilty of involuntary manslaughter on June 16, 2017, and was sentenced to 15-months in jail on August 3, 2017 (Source: NY Times). Roy's parents pushed for Carter to receive the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter, which is 20-years.
Only a year and three months is an insignificant amount of time compared to a life lost at the age of 18. It truly horrifies me that Carter would not only encourage but pressure her boyfriend to commit suicide. Carter is said to have an eating disorder and social anxiety. She also takes anti-depressants. However, this is no excuse for her actions. As someone with both anxiety and depression and who has felt suicidal before, I would never encourage someone to take their own life.
Carter should be held responsible for what she said to Roy and the lack of action she took to prevent his suicide. She knew for at least a month that Roy was suicidal, and instead of reaching out to his parents or putting him in contact with someone who could help, she told him, "You just need to do it" (Source: NY Times).
In the past, when I have told my significant other that I was feeling suicidal, he has urged me to seek professional help. He has stood by my side and convinced me that suicide isn't the right decision. It deeply saddens me that Roy did not have someone in his life that told him that.
I believe that Carter should definitely be punished for her actions, however, I think she also needs psychological help. As a psychology student, I think that Carter's words demonstrate Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. MSBP is when a caregiver purposely inflicts injury upon the person they are caring for. In return, they tend to receive attention and sympathy. The recent case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Blancharde is an excellent example of this syndrome (Source: Biography).
The judge, Lawrence Moniz, stresses that rehabilitation is a primary goal of her imprisonment (Source: CNN). I believe that just over a year is not nearly enough time to treat Carter for a life lost at her virtual hands. I also believe that Carter either has MSBP or another severe psychological disorder that is behind her actions. Mental illness is not an excuse, but it can be an explanation.
My verdict: Carter deserves more time behind bars, and that time must include psychological treatment and rehabilitation.
