Anita's story is just one of a thousands...
The video to the right gives some statistics about the cyber-bullying problem we all face. The statistics were gathered in the United States and represent figures from 2016. Hopefully, as education continues on this topic those numbers will diminish and not increase.
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With cyber-bullying being such a problem, what are the laws?
"Georgia was the first state to pass an anti-bullying law in 1999" (NoBullying.com "Bullying Laws Archives"). Montana was the last state to sign anti-bullying legislation in 2015 (Temkin 2015). Currently, there are no federal laws written specifically against bullying (NoBullying.com "Bullying Laws Archives"). However, these laws are not specifically related to cyber-bullying and currently many states do not include legislation on cyber-bullying. California passed a law in 2008 allowing schools to intervene in the case of cyber-bullying regardless of the bullying being online and not on school grounds (NoBullying.com "Bullying Laws Archives").
U.S. Cases Against Bullying to Know:
- Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District (1988): in a situation where a school does not know about bullying or harassment they cannot be held liable (NOBullying.com "Bullying and the Law in the US" 2017).
- Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education (1999): a school board is liable in such cases when there is student harassment, perpetrated from a fellow student, when the school board acts with what they termed “deliberate indifference” toward the bullying act and the bullying is so severe that it bars the student's access to an equal opportunity for education (NOBullying.com "Bullying and the Law in the US" 2017).
5 Standards Required to Consider Bullying Illegal:
- "The student is protected as a minor, and is identified in a specific group, due to gender, race, or disability" (NOBullying.com "Bullying and the Law in the US" 2017).
- "The harassment from peers is based upon discrimination law regarding the specific group" (NOBullying.com "Bullying and the Law in the US" 2017).
- "The harassment is so severe that it hinders the victim from carrying on in a manner that allow them to continue their education, or engage in certain pursuits without the fear of being harassed or bothered" (NOBullying.com "Bullying and the Law in the US" 2017).
- "It is shown that a school official had the knowledge of the harassment, but did nothing about it" (NOBullying.com "Bullying and the Law in the US" 2017).
- "The school did not pursue the proper channels to punish the perpetrator or remove them from the victim, thereby allowing the harassment to continue" (NOBullying.com "Bullying and the Law in the US" 2017).
References:
NOBullying.com. “Bullying and the Law in the US.” NoBullying - Bullying and the Law in the U.S., 6 Apr. 2017, nobullying.com/bullying-and-the-law-in-the-us/. Accessed 24 May 2017.
NOBullying.com. “Bullying Laws Archives.” NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources, https://nobullying.com/category/bullying-
facts/bullying-laws/. Accessed 24 May 2017.
NOBullying.com. “Cyberbullying facts- NoBullying com.” YouTube, YouTube, 10 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIP7ukKXVSI. Accessed 24 May 2017.
Temkin, Deborah. “All 50 States Now Have a Bullying Law. Now What?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Apr. 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-temkin/all-50-states-now-have-a_b_7153114.html. Accessed 24 May 2017.
NOBullying.com. “Bullying Laws Archives.” NoBullying - Bullying & CyberBullying Resources, https://nobullying.com/category/bullying-
facts/bullying-laws/. Accessed 24 May 2017.
NOBullying.com. “Cyberbullying facts- NoBullying com.” YouTube, YouTube, 10 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIP7ukKXVSI. Accessed 24 May 2017.
Temkin, Deborah. “All 50 States Now Have a Bullying Law. Now What?” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Apr. 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-temkin/all-50-states-now-have-a_b_7153114.html. Accessed 24 May 2017.