Cyberbullying: Draft For Peer Edits

There are very few laws against cyberbullying, although there should be, because bullying of any
type can have tragic results. There are some regulations against cyberbullying in extreme cases, such as
when it involves child pornography and/or identity theft. Almost half of US states include cyberbullying
in their general bullying laws 1, but there are no federal laws against bullying. 2 In some cases, when
bullying is based on race, nationality, gender, disability, or religion, bullying overlaps with harassment
and schools are legally obligated to address it. 3 In most other cases, the punishments for infractions of
cyberbullying are generally determined by school administrations rather than by the state government. 1
Every US state except for Montana has a law against bullying, but only 22 states, less than half, include
cyberbullying in their general bullying laws. Even fewer states have a criminal sanction against
cyberbullying. Only 14 states will inflict any kind of criminal punishment against cyberbullies. 2
About 80 percent of all high school students have encountered being bullied in some fashion
online. These growing numbers are being attributed to youth violence including both homicide and
suicide. While school shootings across the country are becoming more and more common, most teens that
say they have considered becoming violent toward their peers, wish to do so because they want to get
back at those who have bullied them online. About 35 percent of teens have been actually threatened
online. About half of all teens admit they have said something mean or hurtful to another teen online.
Most have done it more than once. 15
As of 2006, 6 43% of people under the age of 18 had been cyberbullied at least once in their lives.
25% have been cyberbullied multiple times. 4 In 2014, there were 73.8 million children living in the
United States. 5 That means that almost 32 million children in the US had been cyberbullied at least once,
and 18.5 had been cyberbullied multiple times. The 43% in 2006 has 4 increased to 52% in 2014. 7 The
rate of cyberbullied children is growing at a rate of 1.125% per year. If cyberbullying doesnt stop, then
in 45 years, 100% of children will be victims of cyberbullying. 33% of cyberbullying instances include
online threats. 10-20% of children have experienced cyberbullying regularly. 95% of people who witness
someone else being victimized just ignore it, and only 50% of victims will tell an adult, 7 and only 20%
of cyberbullying instances are reported to law enforcement. 8
Cyberbullying has very great impacts on the quality of ones life. It can lead to anxiety,
depression, and suicide. Also, to make it worse, things on the internet never disappear, so they can come
up again later in life, causing emotional distress to teens and adults who were cyberbullied in younger
years. 9 A recent study by the US Institutes of Health found that victims of cyber bullying showed more
signs of depression than other bullying victims. Students who are bullied are at higher risk for anxiety,
sleep difficulties, and poor school adjustment, as well as depression. Also, they may experience negative
health problems, such as increased risk for headaches and stomachaches. 11 Cyberbullying can be more
relentless and more frightening or discouraging, especially if the bully is anonymous. 10 Not knowing who
the bully is can sometimes be enough for a person to slip into depression, or to cause them to have bad
emotional problems. 20% of people are bullies. In an average high school of about 2000 people, about
400 of them will be bullies. That means that there are 400 different people who a victim could be bullied
by, so the victim can suffer from acute anxiety, because of not knowing who the bully is. 12
There is a strong relation between bullying and suicide, but suicide is often preceded by
depression. Children and young adults who have been victimized by their peers are 2.4 times more likely
to report considering to commit suicide and 3.3 times more likely to attempt suicide than young adults
who havent been bullied. 11 Victims of cyberbullying have much higher depression rates than those who
are victims of in-person bullying. 14
Not only are there negative effects for bully-victims, but there are also negative effects for the
bullies themselves. Studies show that bullies are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep
difficulties, and poor school adjustment. People who are involved in bullying, either as a victim or as a
bully themselves are at the highest risk for adverse outcomes. 11

Bullying has a negative effect on the social environment of schools, creates a climate of fear
among students, inhibits their ability to learn, and leads to other antisocial behavior. Bullying behavior
has been linked to other forms of antisocial behavior, such as vandalism, shoplifting, skipping and
dropping out of school, fighting, and the use of drugs and alcohol... Successful programs to recognize,
prevent, and effectively intervene in bullying behavior have been developed and replicated in schools
across the country. These schools send the message that bullying behavior is not tolerated and, as a result,
have improved safety and created a more inclusive learning environment. 13
One solution to cyberbullying might be to increase the government protection against it. Because
cyberbullying isnt a federal crime, people will cyberbully others thinking that there will be no
consequences. Many people dont know that bullying is a criminal offense at all, and if they do, they
think that they wont get caught. The government could pass a federal law against cyberbullying, making
it a more massive crime. If people think that they are going to get in a lot of trouble for doing something,
that is generally enough to deter them from doing it in the first place. If people continued to be
cyberbullies, even with a federal law in place, there would be a greater chance that they would be
prosecuted, therefore allowing the victim to see justice.
Another solution might be to increase media coverage of cyberbullying. Yes, every now and then
youll see the stop bullying or dont be a bystander commercials, but there are very few
cyberbullying commercials on TV. Now, there is one Coca Cola commercial that premiered during the
Superbowl that had to do with cyberbullying, but it didnt state at all how big of a problem it is. If
cyberbullying became a more highly publicized offence, maybe people would realize the huge negative
affects of it, and stop cyberbullying.
More schools should instill cyberbullying prevention programs. Studies show that school-based
bullying prevention programs decrease bullying by up to 25%. 16 If schools educated students about how
much of an issue cyberbullying is, there would be fewer instances of cyberbullying. No one, even bullies,
is a completely heartless person. If people who were considering cyberbullying another knew that it led
to suicide and depression, they might be discouraged from doing it.

Reuters, Thomson. Cyberbullying. FindLaw, 2015. Website. http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/cyber-bullying.html

(Retrieved 26 February, 2015)
2

Patchin, Justin W., and Hinduja, Sameer. State Cyberbullying Laws. Cyberbullying Research Center, 2015.
http://www.cyberbullying.us/Bullying-and-Cyberbullying-Laws.pdf (Retrieved 26 February, 2015)
3

Author not stated. Policies and Laws. stopbullying.gov. 31 March, 2014. http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws (Retrieved 26
February, 2015)
4

Author not stated. 11 Facts About Cyber Bullying. DoSomething,org. 2014. https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-aboutcyber-bullying (Retrieved 26 February, 2015)
5

U.S. Census Bureau. Child Population: Number Of Children (In Millions) Ages 017 In The United States By Age, 19502013
And Projected 20142050 ChildStats.gov. 2013. http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/pop1.asp?popup=true
(Retrieved 26 February, 2015)
6

I.
School-based bullying prevention programs decrease bullying by up to 25% (McCallion
and Feder, 2013).
II.
http://www.pacer.org/bullying/about/media-kit/stats.asp