Poll: Should Bullys be Prosecuted? (Poll)

[DugMachine]

Like someone said, if its just some occasional verbal insult, kids need to grow a resistance to it. When I was in middle school I was probably the fattest kid and got picked on all the time. I cried, and got really depressed but I survived. Then I lost all the weight my sophomore year and while it still haunted me till the day I graduated I learned to just not give a fuck anymore.

That's what we should tell kids, to just yell out "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" and not fill their heads with "Ohh hurr they'll get whats coming to em," "It's okay you're special in your own way." It's just bullshit and just gives them this false sense of everything working itself out or to just tell on poeple.

Now, I do feel really bad for the kids that are pushed to suicide from bullying. And I mean bullying of constant verbal insults and physical abuse from other kids BUT, only then should the bullies in question have consequences for their actions, not just a few "nerds," or "faggots" here and there.

 

[TwiZtah]

Genuinely ridiculous. Just because something can harm people doesn't mean it should be illegal, and it is very dangerous to prosecute anyone purely on the basis of what they say. If what is being done falls under harassment or assault laws, you can use those. But to criminalize people being mean? That would be a terrible disgrace to freedom, and I am shocked that so many people are willing to surrender that.

As I have already said in this thread, if you go to a man on the street, calling him names and then beat the crap out of him, would society just let you go on with your day or would you be prosecuted and possibly jailed? yes, just because they are young does NOT mean that a group of kids can do this to another kid.

Now, I don't mean that we should jail 7 year olds, but fucking hell, the school needs to do shit. When you get older, say 15, you should be able to go to jail for bullying, because it is assault. And mostly, the whole damn school is a witness, so you would have plenty of those, not just words against words.

Did you actually read a word I posted? I specifically said "f what is being done falls under harassment or assault laws, you can use those". If you "beat the crap" out of someone, as you so eloquently put it, you can charge someone under those assault laws that already exist, and you don't need any laws or discussions about bullying. But the name-calling part? That is an shameful thing to say, that human beings should be arrested, tried and convicted for calling someone else names.

But why doesn't anyone charge bullys for assault or battery or something? Beating someone in school is just as bad as beating someone on the street, but society does not think that. If I would call you names, say you were insignificant and should just die or threaten you to life for 9 years, you don't think I would be trialed at least? yeah, same shit should go for school too.

 

[OneCatch]

As other have said, the law is already there to protect those that are the victims of serious bullying (bodily harm, threats, persistent harassment).

Nope, it dosen't exist. I was attacked inside and outside of my school and the teachers/police would go "If we didn't see it, nothing happened so nothing can be done." or "Just deal with it." Mind you I'm 12 and a 16 year old is kicking me and bodyslamming me. I even had teachers encouraging the beatings and was told if anything was done to her(the teacher) the punishments would get worse.

Fair dos, that sounds really grim! :/

Do you mind if I ask where you are? Because I can't see that happening in a Comp in the UK. We had pushing and shoving and elbowing and shinkicking and things, which the teachers couldn't really do much about, but any proper fights got broken up and punished fairly quickly.
I assumed it would be pretty similar in the US

I grew up in Maryland but took HS in New Jersey where my only bullies were my friends who thought I was a ****** because I could never get anyone to go out with me.

Sound like some great friends right there. I'm surprised you stuck with them if they were that bad!
Well it sounds like your school really didn't take things seriously at all, which is bad. I assumed there would be a state-level advisory framework on teacher conduct and dealing with bullying, like we have in the UK. Thanks for enlightening me anyhow!

 

[Gnoekeos]

Yeah the world may be full of douchebags and they're not going to go away entirely but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be working to thin out their numbers by making the worst of them have to answer for what they do.

 

[RaikuFA]

As other have said, the law is already there to protect those that are the victims of serious bullying (bodily harm, threats, persistent harassment).

Nope, it dosen't exist. I was attacked inside and outside of my school and the teachers/police would go "If we didn't see it, nothing happened so nothing can be done." or "Just deal with it." Mind you I'm 12 and a 16 year old is kicking me and bodyslamming me. I even had teachers encouraging the beatings and was told if anything was done to her(the teacher) the punishments would get worse.

Fair dos, that sounds really grim! :/

Do you mind if I ask where you are? Because I can't see that happening in a Comp in the UK. We had pushing and shoving and elbowing and shinkicking and things, which the teachers couldn't really do much about, but any proper fights got broken up and punished fairly quickly.
I assumed it would be pretty similar in the US

I grew up in Maryland but took HS in New Jersey where my only bullies were my friends who thought I was a ****** because I could never get anyone to go out with me.

Sound like some great friends right there. I'm surprised you stuck with them if they were that bad!
Well it sounds like your school really didn't take things seriously at all, which is bad. I assumed there would be a state-level advisory framework on teacher conduct and dealing with bullying, like we have in the UK. Thanks for enlightening me anyhow!

Its just Maryland schools. NJ schools treat bullying like a court case., bring in every witness and take their story and such.

 

[OneCatch]

Spoiler: previous posts

As other have said, the law is already there to protect those that are the victims of serious bullying (bodily harm, threats, persistent harassment).

Nope, it dosen't exist. I was attacked inside and outside of my school and the teachers/police would go "If we didn't see it, nothing happened so nothing can be done." or "Just deal with it." Mind you I'm 12 and a 16 year old is kicking me and bodyslamming me. I even had teachers encouraging the beatings and was told if anything was done to her(the teacher) the punishments would get worse.

Fair dos, that sounds really grim! :/

Do you mind if I ask where you are? Because I can't see that happening in a Comp in the UK. We had pushing and shoving and elbowing and shinkicking and things, which the teachers couldn't really do much about, but any proper fights got broken up and punished fairly quickly.
I assumed it would be pretty similar in the US

I grew up in Maryland but took HS in New Jersey where my only bullies were my friends who thought I was a ****** because I could never get anyone to go out with me.

Sound like some great friends right there. I'm surprised you stuck with them if they were that bad!
Well it sounds like your school really didn't take things seriously at all, which is bad. I assumed there would be a state-level advisory framework on teacher conduct and dealing with bullying, like we have in the UK. Thanks for enlightening me anyhow!

Its just Maryland schools. NJ schools treat bullying like a court case., bring in every witness and take their story and such.

Sounds like you got both extremes! With us it tended to be whoever was doing the bullying would swiftly get a couple detentions or a suspension and that'd be the end of it.

 

[krazykidd]

Now because i know the escapists hate to hae people that don't agree with their opinion i will get quoted , i'm telling you guys right now , i will not respond to quotes.

You know all you have to do is ignore the fact that you're being quoted. I didn't particularly care for the rest of your post but honestly this is the most idiotic part. To me when someone makes a statement like this its basically saying "Just ignore what I said earlier it didn't really have any meaning or value I just said it because I wanted to troll people." Anyway have fun not responding to this.

*Looks at post count*... oh you're new here . Thanks for your input.

 

[Sean951]

People keep bringing up the occasional name calling as evidence that we shouldn't use the legal system, but that's not the kind of bullying that drives people to the edge. Occasional name calling is something that can get annoying, but unless it is a constant effort by multiple individuals, it won't really do anything.

I would also like to point out that once these individuals turned 18, they would have their records expunged as far as I know, so it wouldn't do anything to hinder them in the long run. I also don't think you would see any time locked up anywhere unless the bully in question was physically assaulting the victim, in which case yes, lock them up. They are clearly a danger to others and the rest of the school shouldn't have to deal with them. For everyone else, 20-300 hours of community service would be adequate punishment.

 

[manic_depressive13]

No, that's absurd. It sucks that some people are assholes but you can't make being a douchebag against the law. It's just not feasible.

How in the fuck do you think here? If you walked up to someone on the street, calling him names and punching the living crap out of him, you would get jailtime. However, if it happens in school, it's okay?

It's not about being a douchebag. It's about physical and mental abuse.

OT: I was never bullied so I might not be the best one to speak but, yes, they should. Maybe not kids, but if you're over the age of 13 I think you should be able to be prosecuted. But I think you already can be?

Physically beating someone isn't 'bullying', it's abuse just as you said. Physical abuse should be prosecuted by law and not dismissed under the broad and almost meaningless term 'bullying'.

When I say 'bullying' I mean picking on someone rather than beating someone. When I started high school some kids on the bus used to kick the back of my seat and tell me I'm ugly/ call me names without the slightest provocation until I started walking to school instead, which took about 25 minutes by bus and almost an hour on foot. That was bullying too. It made me feel like crap since I couldn't understand why they seemed to hate me just for existing and I sometimes cried when I got home. That kind of treatment from people I barely knew, the fact that I had no friends, and family difficulties at the time culminated in my often considering suicide.

Should they be prosecuted? No, that's stupid.

 

[Gnoekeos]

Now because i know the escapists hate to hae people that don't agree with their opinion i will get quoted , i'm telling you guys right now , i will not respond to quotes.

You know all you have to do is ignore the fact that you're being quoted. I didn't particularly care for the rest of your post but honestly this is the most idiotic part. To me when someone makes a statement like this its basically saying "Just ignore what I said earlier it didn't really have any meaning or value I just said it because I wanted to troll people." Anyway have fun not responding to this.

*Looks at post count*... oh you're new here . Thanks for your input.

*Wonders what the post count has to do with anything* According to the joined date tags right next to the post count I've been on the site nearly as long as you have. So I'm not exactly new, really I just haven't been interested in the forums till recently.

 

[Something Amyss]

ive seen "hey you loser" being called "bullying" and technically, it is bullying, by the definition of the term, thats why we cant use this term to jail people. because then we would have to jail 90% of populace, and thats simply economicaly impossible.

I somehow doubt any statute would cut things so loosely, but that's a really poor argument. "Technically, if we take the definition to an illogical extreme...." That could justify striking down the majority of laws, despite how silly it is, since no, that's not bullying, technical or otherwise.

"I've heard someone say it" does not make it technically so.

 

[Gnoekeos]

ive seen "hey you loser" being called "bullying" and technically, it is bullying, by the definition of the term, thats why we cant use this term to jail people. because then we would have to jail 90% of populace, and thats simply economicaly impossible.

I somehow doubt any statute would cut things so loosely, but that's a really poor argument. "Technically, if we take the definition to an illogical extreme...." That could justify striking down the majority of laws, despite how silly it is, since no, that's not bullying, technical or otherwise.

"I've heard someone say it" does not make it technically so.

Drawing the line is going to be really difficult, does it stop at physical stuff or is the line going to go into the psychological. One could argue that krazykidds attempt in a previous post to make me feel inferior because of the difference in the number of times we've posted is a form of bullying but its really not reasonable for someone to have to go through legal process for such a thing and yet there would be people out there who would demand it. I see a lot of potential for such a system to be abused.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Yeah, but it's not that simple.

How do you prove that the leading factor of a teen's suicide was the bullying of one particular student?

Thats true. I do remember when I was bullied in school it was usually a group of kids. Then because of the need to conform most of the class fell in line with them. Still there usually is a main aggressor that the group turns to.


-------

There are tons of Zero Tolerance policies in schools the problem is kids just get sneaky about it. Like gangsters they'll wait till your in a secluded area and beat the crap out of you. If you don't bruise easily like me they can just do it over and over because you have no proof.

I have found at least in my school that teachers were sympathetic towards me. I had one bully who was just being outright cruel to me. Always making fun of me, calling me names, always had a snide remark to any question I had about an assignment, continually laugh at me during my presentations, and pick fights with me after school. It felt like I was in an abusive marriage. This was day after day, month after month shit. So I sort of lost it.

One day in front of the class and teachers I punched him as hard as I could. Well I had a pen in my hand at the time and I sort of slightly stabbed him with it. It wasn't a deep wound, but it drew blood. It was an accident, but with all the witnesses I was sure I was going to get expelled, zero tolerance policy after all. Well the school counselor got together with my teachers and decided to give me a 2 day in school suspension.

After that he started to respect me or something. He wanted to be my friend. It was just weird. So I don't know, maybe the only way to beat a bully is to literally beat a bully.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

No. Unless physical assault is involved, kids need to toughen up. The world after high school is so much more stressful (whether it be military, career, or college) that, if they don't develop coping skills in the early grades, they'll just fall to pieces.

Same with the online bullying. Every time someone like Megan Meier commits suicide, there is an outcry for "something to be done". Unless you're good with students being forced to share their social media passwords or being forced to friend school admins just to make sure that everyone is being sheltered from bullying...from a source that they could easily turn off.....then you probably shouldn't be so quick to advocate that the schools "do something".

 

[ginadess]

Depends on the child's age. Bullies does not only associate to teens and adults but there are young kids who are actually starting to show signs of bullying their peers. See here [http://www.mytroubledteen.com/article/what-to-do-if-your-child-is-a-bully.php] for a relevant info on this issue.
I actually think that parents and the school officials should go hand in hand with trying to educate and discipline kids starting from their young age about the dangers of bullying. It's not enough to be educating these kids but also to be good role models to them. Sometimes kids learn how to bully because they follow what they see from the adults or are victims of bullying themselves. We might be unaware that the bullies themselves need the help too. Bullying stops if we put effort in teaching our own kids and showing to them the importance of respect.