Should Conrad Roy: Should It Be Considered Involuntary Murder?

If somebody tells someone to end their own life-and they do it, should this be considered involuntary murder? This question has sparked much controversy in a case involving a seventeen-year-old girl repeatedly texting her eighteen-year-old boyfriend to kill himself. Conrad Roy killed himself on July 13th, 2014 by carbon monoxide poisoning inside his truck at a parking lot. Conrad's girlfriend, Michelle Carter, had been texting him for weeks to commit suicide, "You can't think about it, you just have to do it," she urges on one text that she sent the day he killed himself. On August 3rd, 2017 Michelle Carter was sentenced to 15 months in prison on the charge of involuntary manslaughter. She has since filed an appeal and is not serving her time. Although her actions are wrong, she is not solely to blame for Conrad Roy's tragic death and her sentence should be re-evaluated.

To assess her degree of responsibility for the situation we have to understand how much influence she had over Conrad. For most people someone they almost exclusively communicate through text would not have much sway on the actions of the said person. However, neither of these teenagers were similar to most people and it appears she had a great deal of influence over him. Roy attempted to kill himself by acetaminophen overdose when he was 17, and was known to struggle with depression and social anxiety. Carter also had her own problems, being diagnosed with an eating disorder and taking psychiatric medications. These people casually discussed suicide the way most teenagers discuss homework. When hearing of this case, one might ask, why didn’t the parents stop this? If a parent has a child that has previously attempted suicide, would they not do everything to ensure