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Cyberbullying: Criminal Or Merely Cruel?
New York, 5:53 PM
Thu Nov 12
73 posts in the last 24 hours
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Cyberbullying: Criminal Or Merely Cruel? |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
12/22/08
12/22/08
I have much bigger issues with anonymous cyberbullying than many, I think, because I was a victim of anonymous cyberbullying a number of times in high school. Some of it is still on the internet, since I never deleted the Xanga account I had in ninth grade. I know I knew the people who did it- and while I was never threatened with violence as far as I can remember, it hurt more than any other bullying I ever experienced, because for all I knew, it was someone I considered a friend. In particular, there was an incident when I was accepted to the CIT program at my sleepaway camp, and...
"[CollegeBookworm] got it she'll be so lovely in the
CIT unit.At least it will keep the guys from peeking in the showers. lol." -Anonmous"
And it's guaranteed that I knew whoever posted that, because it had to be someone from camp, and it was probably someone I was friends with or friendly with at some point in my camp career.
Anonymous cyberbullying is not okay in my world. But this case isn't cyberbullying- it's telephone harassment.
12/22/08
12/22/08
12/22/08
Also, if we truly trained/prepared the young to be adults that would be certainly easier. Bullying is harassment, not cutesy kid's stuff.
12/22/08
i mean how many women complain to law enforcement that their crazy ex-husband is threatening them, and basically they're told they can't do anything until the husband actually acts on his threats? it'd be the same with this law.
12/22/08
12/22/08
@NefariousNewt: Yep, if they are so understaffed they can't do their job, then there needs to be more police. We can give banks hundreds of billions but can't afford money to keep citizens, who paid the taxes this money comes from, safe? That's messed up.
12/22/08
12/22/08
12/22/08
The problem is that meanwhile we will have those glitches mixed up with other shortcomings of our legal system and social mores. Same with everything, I know, but still sad.
12/22/08
12/22/08
On the other hand, I have also seen some kids set examples of acceptance and love, really being kind to everyone - and having others follow their lead.
It is really amazing how one or two kids can make a change for the better in their wider school community. One person really can make a difference.
12/22/08
I personally feel like some schools and people are way to fucking permissive with bullying. "Kids will be kids" it's not a goddamn proper excuse! The jobs of parents and educational institutions is to train kids to be ethical adults.
Also, whatever the heck happened to community service as punishment for these types of behavior? My school couldn't have been the only one to do this.
12/22/08
I think these things are better handled on a local level, not a criminal one. The parents and the school should handle this. Period.
12/22/08
12/22/08
In this one case, the girl is 21, yes. In most situations the kids will be in high school.
The criminalization of things like this is bad for everyone. We're not becoming a nanny state, we're becoming a police state. Think of the implications of this: police officers coming into high school and arresting young girls for texting something they didn't mean to a frenemy.
12/22/08
12/22/08
disclaimer: I'm just playing devil's advocate.
Threatening rape is obviously very serious. But words and threats, to be criminal in general, must have some immediacy or reasonableness to think the threat will actually be carried out. The reason that in another medium this would probably not be prosecuted (like an oral threat) is because it's a she said-she said situation. It's difficult to prove words. I also think it will be difficult to prove that the 21yo actually intended to cause the 17yo to fear rape. It seems more likely that she just really wanted to insult her.
12/22/08
For example, we went to the bookstore Saturday night, and my 11-year-old son decided that he wanted some reading material consisting of GQ (the Aniston cover) and Maxim. I took them away and told him under no circumstances. My wife was like "he's just curious," and I wasn't sure if she got the point. I don't need any of my kids being exposed to material that objectifies women or gives pointers on "scoring."
12/22/08
I wonder if there is a male equivalent to Tiger Beat or at least some media in which they could 'crush' on cute actresses their age without the girls being objectified.
12/22/08
Unfortunately, not all parents are as thoughtful and responsible as you are. I honestly think it's the little things like denying your son a silly GQ picture, or speaking up about a rude comment that doesn't seem like a big deal; these are the things that add up into great parenting and responsible children.
My beef is the criminalization of everything in our society. Our criminal system is less than stellar and has a history of pretty major blunders. I think the 17yo should be able to sue for emotional distress in the civil system, but this type of threat should not be a criminal offense worthy of jailtime.
@Brigit quiere comer pasteles!: Tiger Beat was pretty awesome. Viva JTT and harmless celeb crushes.
12/22/08
12/22/08
However threatening violence and/or sexual assualt is criminal in the adult world and should be in a childs as well. Comments are hurtful and I wish we did live in a world where people could all be nice, but no one should have to live in fear of their safety like that. Rape is never a joking matter.
12/22/08
12/22/08
12/22/08
I'm not going to say that the law as written is great, because frankly I don't know enough about it. But having had a phone stalker, and having friends who have had serious internet stalker / harassers, I do feel qualified to say that it's damn hard enough to get any authorities to do anything about it even with proof and with laws in place.
So maybe the law that exists is the wrong one. That's possible, or even likely, because we're still in the very early stages of taking passes at a world that literally did not exist 15 years ago. But serious harassment is just that: harassment. And we as a society seem to have crossed the line where we decided that is Not Okay some time ago.
12/22/08
SOOO true. Harrasers in the US generally have a ton of rights! Anyone who has ever had a stalker or taken out an Order of Protection knows that someone can basically tail you around all day long, calling your phone and leaving harrasing messages, and get MAYBE a slap on the wrist that comes in the form of a "talking to" from a police officer.
12/22/08
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12/22/08
Thirded. I'm having difficulty understanding why the two are being conflated.
12/22/08
They only started to pay attention to crap like that after Columbine. Because bringing a gun to school and bringing some country justice down on the school bullies and the teachers who just smirked & let them get away with it looked real good.
I'll be honest though, I'm surprised someone didn't go "Columbine" at my school. A school shooting did happen in the same town (a few years after I graduated and left), and finally the School Board dislodged it's collective head from it's collective ass and start anti-bullying programs and made teachers and staff enforce it.
12/22/08
I wonder how this extended period of practical lawlessness affects kids. They get out of schools as almost-adults with no concept of the societal consequences of verbal and physical violence.
12/22/08
12/22/08
As for the general principle, as much as I would have loved to see some kids I went to middle school with do some jail time, I think it's dangerous to criminalize being a bad person.
12/22/08