Don't like it when films end like this.

Mike's instinct at that moment was to protect his son. It wasn't an easy choice. But once he saw how his son felt about him I feel that he thought he shared some of the blame and did what needed to be done to save his son.

I take it you don't have kids of your own? It's a pretty natural instinct for a father to want to defend his son. While some would hand them over to the police in this scenario, many would not - and not just "bad" people, seemingly saintly people will do so as well.

Especially as the boy seems to have "learnt his lesson" and clearly didn't mean for it to happen. It would be much easier for the father to justify it to himself.

"True, but it annoyed/disappointed me that after Mike had quite rightly given Jason and his friend an earful for his 'prank', he choose to go along with their attempts to wipe their hard-drive of anything that could connect them to 'Jessica Rhony'. It was even worse when Ben's father, Rich, showerrd up and said "Jason is messed-up" to which Mike said "My child's messed up? Your son's the one who tried to hand himself!"

Yeah, but why? Because Mike's little prick of a son, and his son's best friend, decided to screw with Ben's mind...and for what it's worth, I don't buy that Ben's suicide was in any way his parents' responsibility. Even Jason quite rightly implied that having spoken to Rich, he seemed like a reasonably good father, which he was. No matter how well-adjusted or otherwise one's family may be, that kind of prank (i.e. soliciting a naked picture for the benefit of the rest of the school to make abusive comments about) is going to screw up any teenager and force them to at least consider suicide."

You seem to be over simplifying a highly complex situation. There are way too many possibilities to consider in the whole situation. Only a couple of which are that the father, having been a cop knew that the legal systems punishment for his child would only do harm and maybe he felt that if he changed his behavior and disciplined his son is a way that could teach him to be a better person, then he would avoid potentially creating a worse criminal. Which is what the penal system prodminently creates.

Jason was a pissed off kid who was mad that his dad's only communication was negative. This would have a bad impact on most kids. His perception of Rich as a father was not the reality. What he was seeing was a father having to come to terms with his utter neglect of his son. So those bits of conversation and Jason's reaction to them shouldn't be the basis to form an opinion of Rich as a father.

Also, the victem seemed to have some kind of serious social anxiety and possible depression. Plus a father who never spoke with him or spent any time with him. The same sex parent relationship is the most influential on a kid, and that kid didn't have one. The fact is that suicide is not something that mentally stable, well adjusted and otherwise happy teenagers would even consider if this happened to them.