Yet many on that site, as well as CNN.com's story -- which was shared on Facebook by more than 35,000 people as of Thursday night and had more than 6,300 comments -- levied blame, as much as they offered support.

Many chastised modern-day children and parenting for fostering such behavior. Some criticized the bus driver for not halting the verbal abuse, even though Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton stressed that it took place on the back of a noisy bus, far from the driver. And a few even singled out Klein for not being more forthright to stop it.

"Children have no respect because they are not taught to respect," a CNN.com commenter with the handle Rahzmahm wrote. "Ask the nearest child to you the meaning of the word and you probably would not get a sufficient answer."

Police and town leaders in Greece -- a community that has nearly 100,000 residents, three school districts and nearly 42 square miles of area yet still proudly sees itself as a town, one where things like this just don't happen -- talked about being peppered with messages from around the world decrying the episode.

While condemning the outrage, town Supervisor John Auberger tried to assure people that these four boys didn't represent the entire community. He described his "town" as a place full of people "who are kind, respectful neighbors and hardworking," much like Klein.

Online and in messages to school and police officials, many demanded that the youngsters overheard in the video be arrested. Chatterton said he's "gotten e-mails from the United Kingdom (and) from all over the United States saying prosecute, prosecute."

"I feel it. I feel it," he said. "But we have to follow the law. We can't tailor the law to meet this case because of public outrage."

Police also said the seventh-graders had received death threats from people near and far. For example, Chatterton said, one of their cell phones "had over 1,000 missed calls and 1,000 text messages threatening him. And he is a 13-year-old."

Hodges, the University of Oregon professor, said she's not surprised by the communal desire for justice.

She said this could be explained through the "just-world hypothesis," the belief that people think the world should be good -- and when it is not, especially when a blameless and vulnerable person suffers as a result, someone needs to be punished.

"Clearly, something is wrong, this shouldn't be happening," Hodges said. "There's a sense somebody needs to be blamed. ... People feel the need to balance the scope."

One person not calling for the four boys to be thrown behind bars is Klein. The bus monitor said that, right now at least, she does not want police to pursue criminal charges. But Klein would like to see them banned from the bus and athletic activities and, most of all, wants to make sure they don't bully anyone else.

"I want to make sure that they never do this again, to anybody," she said.