From the 10th to the 11th of Janury, 1992, 12-year-old Shanda Sharer was abducted a
nd tortured by four teenage girls, Laurie Tackett, Melinda Loveless (a propo), Hope
Rippey, and Toni Lawrence. Tackett was more or less the leader of the four, and
interested the others in the Goth lifestyle, punk rock, vampirism, witchcraft, Satanism,
lesbianism, and such, and devised the plan for abducting Sharer and stabbing her to
death, out of revenge for stealing Loveless’s girlfriend.
They abducted Sharer from her house just after midnight, pretending to take her to
see their mutual friend, Amanda Heavrin, the girlfriend Loveless believed Sharer to
have stolen. As soon as she was in the car, Loveless put a knife to her throat and interrogated her about Heavrin, until they arrived at “the Witch’s Castle,” a local run-down house where teenagers liked to hang out.
They took her inside, tied her up and discuss how they would kill her, at which point Sharer started crying. They claim to have been frightened by passing headlights, so they took her to a nearby landfill in thick woods, where Loveless beat her savagely with her fists. Lawrence and Rippey claim to have wanted out of
10 Notorious Cases of the Bystander Effect[1]
The hollowing are a collection of brief articles on ten of the most notorious cases of the bystander effect in history. As a teacher, you may wish to use some of these examples to springboard into teaching about the bystander effect to your students. These examples are very severe, and depending on the age of your students, should be handeled with caution.
In the following nine examples, no one goes and does likewise.
10 The Parable of The Good Samaritan
First, the prototype of the bystander effect. Jesus tells a story to a lawyer, who, in all
other ways, is blameless and upright in God’s eyes. He obeys the Ten Commandments,
and loves his neighbor as himself. But he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus then explains, with the following parable, that everyone is everyone’s neighbor,
and that help should offered to anyone in need of it, regardless of who or what that
person is.
A Jew is going along the road, and is beset by bandits, who beat him severely, strip his
clothes, and rob him. They leave him for dead. Later, a priest walks by. He sees the Jew, moves to the other side of the road, and walks by without helping. Later, a Levite goes by, sees him, and gives him a wide berth, going on without helping.
Later, a Samaritan (considered by the Jews to be outcasts) comes by, sees him, and immediately helps him, taking him to a nearby inn, caring for him, and paying the innkeeper.
“Which of these is the neighbor of the Jew who is beaten by robbers?” Jesus asked.
“The merciful one,” replied the lawyer.
“Go and do likewise.”
9 Shanda sharer