CYBERBULLYING

By Naomi Trevino

WHAT IS CYBERBULLYING?

• Is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the internet, social media or other forms of technology as the weapon (Texas Education Agency, 2014).

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CYBERBULLYING?

• Victims of cyberbullying experience short term, long term and deadly or permanent effects.

• Low self esteem, anger, higher levels of anxiety and depression, self harm, physical health problems, and social or real world issues such as skipping school, experiencing in person bullying

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CYBERBULLYING?

• Poorer grades, social difficulties, higher substance usage, delinquency and more.

• Recent study of 26 high schools in the Boston area alone found that the relationship between distress and depression were highest among those who reported being cyber bullied(Schneider et al., 2011)

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CYBERBULLYING?

• Of the 20,000 plus students sampled in the study, those who had been cyberbullied were 5 times more likely to have suicide ideation, report a suicide attempt and more likely to have a suicide attempt requiring medical condition.

IS SUICIDE ON THE RISE FOR CYBERBULLYING VICTIMS?

On October 7th 2003, Ryan Patrick Halligan, a 13 year old boy from Essex Junction, Vermont, committed suicide by hanging himself. From early on Ryan, had learning difficulties and was in special education programs for a long period. He seemed to be doing well in middle school as he was put in regular classes with his peers. But in summer 2003, Ryan began to increase his internet use especially instant messaging. He connected with many classmates online and even befriend the main school bully. After his death, countless messages were found of threats, calling him gay though that wasn’t the case and even suggesting Ryan should commit suicide.

IS SUICIDE ON THE RISE FOR CYBERBULLYING VICTIMS?

• 10 years later the issue of cyberbullying has only increased. Here is a recent story of a young girl who was cyberbullied and things escalated quickly.

•story http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-charged-fatal-cyberbullying-case-rebecca-sedwick-remain/story?id=20580689

WHAT IS BEING DONE WITH THIS SOCIAL ILL OF CYBERBULLYING?

• The Cyberbullying Research center is an active venue that is the leading research center in the US.

• Criminologists Dr. Justin Patchin and Dr. Sameer Hinduja began work on cyberbullying in 2002 and launched the cyberbullyingus.com website in 2005.

WHAT IS BEING DONE WITH THIS SOCIAL ILL OF CYBERBULLYING?

• The Cyberbullying Research Center has been a valuable source for this proposal.

• What is my proposal?• Change the law in Texas on the issue

of bullying and cyberbullying

STATE CYBERBULLYING LAWS AND POLICES

• Currently 49 states have bullying laws• 18 states bullying laws include

cyberbullying• 47 include electronic harassment• 12 include criminal sanction• 44 include school sanction• 49 require school policy on bullying• 12 also include off campus behaviors• (Cyberbullying Research Center and verified by states)

WHERE DOES TEXAS STAND?

• Texas does not have a cyberbullying law, does not have criminal sanction which means punishment and does not include off campus behaviors in their law.

• Does it really make a difference?

COMPARING STATE LAWS• In order to support my proposal that

Texas needs to have a complete bullying law, I gathered data from 3 states that I call complete and 3 I call unpretected.

• Data was collected from each states department of education.

COMPARING STATE LAWS• Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas

are what I call complete states because their bullying law includes every element including, cyber bullying, criminal sanction, school sanction, electronic harassment, school policy and off campus behaviors.

COMPARING STATE LAWS• General findings:• Louisiana: Out of 84 districts called parish’s, 21

had 20 or < counts of bullying and 35 had < 10 which were not even statically sound enough to be reported.

• Tennessee: 2011 Youth Risk Behavior survey (collected every 3 years) showed an overall decreased or a leveled percentage of bullying including cyberbullying.

• Arkansas: Out of the 250 school districts: 50 reported 20 or <, 124 < 10 and 20 reported 0 = 204

COMPARING STATE LAWS• Alabama, Alaska and Rhode Island

are what I call unprotected states because they do not have cyberbullying laws and do not all include electronic harassment, criminal sanction, school sanction, and or off campus behaviors.

COMPARING STATE LAWS• General Findings:• Alabama: Any reports of bullying is defined under the broad

category of harassment. • Out of 89 counties the data was collected for the district.

State wide totals were 720 for 2013 that including bullying and cyberbullying though not reported.

• Rhode Island: Bullying is clumped into the category of threat/intimidation. Student report of bullying for schools statewide for the year 2010-2011 which is the most recent found that 56.72% of students 9-12 grade reported being bullied!

• Alaska: Enacted their bullying law in 2006. Bullying decreased in comparing 2008-2009 report with 2012-2013. The numbers also had a substantial increase in 2011-2012.

COMPARING STATE LAWS• What does these findings mean? With the

date collected from the unprotected states it is clear to see that just a bullying law is not enough. Bullying laws need to include all types and all forms of punishment whether school, criminal or off campus.

• Another story of cyberbully further explains the immediate need for law change. http://www.katu.com/news/investigators/Boy-17-says-cyberbullying-led-to-suicide-attempt-212830981.html?tab=video&c=y

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Proposal For Texas• As the police officer mentioned, there is really

little anyone can do in many states including schools and law enforcement. This needs to change.

• Though I do believe it will take education, training and many other factors to cut down on cyberbullying based on data collected from Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas, I do believe that starting with a law that includes cyberbullying with punishment for bullies will make a huge difference.

Close to Home• Texas currently defines bullying as engaging in

written or verbal expression, expression through electronic means, or physical conduct that occurs on school property, at a school sponsored or school related activity, or in vehicle operated by a district(Texas Association of School Boards, 2011).

• Texas currently collects no data specific to bullying and certainly not to cyberbullying

• Other infractions such as alcohol use or truancy is reported by no data was found after extensive research. This should be a warning.

Close to Home• Cyber bullying is happening right now close to home• http://www.khou.com/news/Klein-Hoes-Instagram-page-triggers-lawsuit-against-youn

g-creators--241567971.html

• Texas its time to catch up and start with a protective bullying law that includes cyberbullying and punishment. Punishment can be a deterrence for potential cyberbullies.

• This could reduce cyberbullying and potentially save psychological, emotional, physical, social and academic damage and even the life of a young person. •  

End it!“..let's stop standing on the sidelines. Let's get in there and do something about it.”- Dr. Justin and Dr. Sameer (cyberbullying research center US).