109: Mean Girls

We’ve all done stupid things due to peer pressure. It can be harmless, such as influencing the way we dress or the way we wear our hair. Sometimes it involves drinking or other high-risk behavior. It often plays a part in bullying, with a teen or group of teens encouraging abusive behavior against a peer. Today, we are talking about an extreme case of peer pressure which led to the torture and murder of a 12-year old girl by 4 teenage girls. 12-year old Shanda Sharer was a cute and friendly girl, living in Madison, Indiana, in 1992, when her murder attracted international attention. Her killers were unlikely criminals. Shanda had left her house willingly with them. So, how did a typical teenage adventure lead to such horrific violence and murder? The role of peer pressure or mob mentality was definitely a factor. But there were other factors that influenced what happened that night, including the abusive histories and dysfunctional childhood environments of some of the perpetrators. We’ll talk about the crime of torture and murder against Shanda and examine the influences, including the home lives of the girls involved in the crime. In this episode of True Crime Brewery: Mean Girls Our intermission song is Perfect by Alanis Morissette