Remember back to your school years where everyone knew the class bully. And just about everyone was, at some time and to some degree, on the receiving end of the class bully. I know it happened to me. I had two bullies in the class above me that just loved to pick on me. They were bigger, there was two of them and they were cruel in that they really liked hurting people.
I also remember the day they stopped bullying me. As I remember, they were in the process of bringing physical pain to me. Along comes a classmate of theirs, a farm girl named Phyllis, and told them to stop. They dropped me to the ground and turned on her like they were going to cause her some trouble.
The larger one, Wayne, headed over to her yelling and she dropped him with one shot to the nose. He lay on the ground gurgling through his broken nose and the blood and his partner, Gary, stopped in his tracks. Never saw anyone’s eyes that large and I could tell he had met his match as he helped Wayne to his feet and they ran off. They never bothered me again, nor did they cause Phyllis any trouble. This was way before computers and cell phones and things were done in the physical way then.
Fast forward to today where a number of states have anti-bullying statutes to promote school safety, as well as protect kids everywhere in the state. Some examples of behavior that would constitute bully are: spreading rumors or posting degrading, harmful, or explicit pictures; taunting or making sexual slurs about a person’s sexual status; name-calling or making offensive remarks about a person’s religion, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status; and of course physical acts such as punching, slapping or tripping someone.
Even in states without specific laws against cyberbullying, the prosecutor can use existing laws against cyberbullying by applying the harassment laws when applicable. Harassment can be both criminal and civil in nature. Criminal when it intentionally targets a person with behavior meant to annoy, torment or terrorize them, but usually they require the behavior to cause a credible threat to the person’s safety or safety of their family.
Federal anti-bullying laws address bullying under the First Amendment, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as well as equal protection laws. The Supreme Court, in Davis v Monroe County Board of Education, has held that parents may sue a school for failing to take action on a sexual harassment claim it knew about but failed to take any action on.
Cyberbullying is just as great a problem as physical bullying because it can be viewed by all of a person’s friends, family and even the general public. Cyberbullying can be even worse due to embarrassment, shame or even more severe consequences such as suicide.
Some states include menacing in their laws which usually include single acts which are intended to create a reasonable fear in someone, such as brandishing a weapon. Stalking generally refers to a clear pattern of conduct where the perpetrator causes the victim reasonable fear for their safety. Cyberstalking is stalking someone through the internet, email, text or electronic communication and can be included in the laws for improper uses of computers or electronic networks.
Florida Statutes Annotated, section 1006.147, the “Jeffery Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act” prohibits the bullying of any k-12 student or staff member.
(3) For purposes of this section:
(a) “Bullying” includes cyberbullying and means systematically and chronically inflicting physical hurt or psychological distress on one or more students and may involve:
1. Teasing;
2. Social exclusion;
3. Threat;
4. Intimidation;
5. Stalking;
6. Physical violence;
7. Theft;
8. Sexual, religious, or racial harassment;
9. Public or private humiliation; or
10. Destruction of property.
(b) “Cyberbullying” means bullying through the use of technology or any electronic communication, which includes, but is not limited to, any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic system, photo-electronic system, or photo-optical system, including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications, instant messages, or facsimile communications.
Cyberbullying includes the creation of a webpage or weblog in which the creator assumes the identity of another person, or the knowing impersonation of another person as the author of posted content or messages, if the creation or impersonation creates any of the conditions enumerated in the definition of bullying. Cyberbullying also includes the distribution by electronic means of a communication to more than one person or the posting of material on an electronic medium that may be accessed by one or more persons, if the distribution or posting creates any of the conditions enumerated in the definition of bullying.
Penalties for cyberbullying vary from state to state. Sanctions could be anywhere from civil penalties such as school suspensions or expulsions to jail time for criminal misdemeanors and even felonies.
For tips on preventing cyberbullying go to the Department of Health & Human services at its www.stopbullying.gov website. www.cyberbullying.org has a state by state listing of online cyberbullying as it relates to schools.