Record-Journal Article

Some Jurors Puzzled By Scruggs Decision

Response to Above Article:
So much anger around now that Judith Scruggs has been exonerated. Are we afraid to look at the environment that really posed a threat to Daniel's mental health? A child's mental health is severely compromised by an environment where severe bullying occurs day after day, after day. The child watches adults stand idle when it happens and then hears the adults say he must come back for more maltreatment each day. The adults tell the child that if he fears returning to them, they will send him to court. The child enters into a deeply stressed mental state. He may go to bed with unusual objects just to bring relief-any relief-that alleviates his fears enough to bring sleep.
Daniel Scruggs was being severely bullied and school personnel knew it. Just read the Office of the Child Advocate's Report, compare it to what the school says about Daniel, compare it to what they had in their documents, and compare it to what they did or did not do to help.
It was the severe bullying--in an environment of adults who had access to Daniel--that led to Daniel's death. When a child is bullied publicly without an once of help from the adults who observe it happening, hope in the child is lost--there is no future; there is no meaning for life. Severe bullying leads to suicide, homicide, and life-long psychological suffering. Severe bullying is done by kids who have more power over other kids and who are given the advantage to do it by a weakened school structure.
Did you know that Judith worked in the school her son attended? Did you know that Daniel was a young man with superior intelligence who never picked on or abused anyone in his school? Was Daniel's continued desire for learning and his respectful attitude towards others not qualities that had some relationship to his home life? Judith told me that when she learned about the bullying, she addressed it in school meetings, and yes, Judith's attendance at school meetings is documented. Did you know that the school's response to Judith's requests for help from Daniel was to take away his special education service and to put him in a room with kids who had emotional disturbance and limited motivation to learn? Daniel's capacity for hope was taken from him, just like the many kids you will read about in a book to be published by mothers from the Bully Police USA. It is critical to look at school environments in which efforts are not made to stop harm to others, especially when school personnel are aware of the problem.

Catherine A. Hogan, MSW, LCSW
National Consultant and CT Director, Bully Police USA
Clinical Supervisor, Yale Child Study Center
Certified School Social Worker