Bullying laws - Research Paper Example

During the process of stopping bullying, there are three major elements to the process: imposing high penalties for the bullying, educating the bullies and protecting the victims of bullying (San Antonio and Salzfass 32-38). Among the different courses that are likely to eliminate bullying, educating bullies can help eliminate the issue, because many of them may not be aware of how much damage, they cause by bullying their victims. The second is to punish them heavily, and this one will help in curbing bullying, because it will make the bullies stop the bullying, due to the fear of the penalties.

The third channel of addressing the issue is through working with the victims of the bullying, where they are reminded of their worth and the need to be assertive to the bullies, without really being aggressive (McCallion and Feder 2). However, for these different solution channels to work, there is need to have a proper policy and legal framework defining what amounts to bullying, defining the penalties to be borne by bullies and to offer platforms for addressing the issue of bullying. . The 2010 statistics, further, report that there has been an increment in cyber bullying levels, where the cyber space is offering a new and more concealable channel for bullying (Bullying Statistics 1).

The problem is very common among children and teens, although cyber bullying is the most prevalent channel used during school hours and after school. The increased uptake of social networking services has also offered an entirely new environment for bullies to exercise their authority above their victims, where approximately 2.7 million studies are bullied by an estimated 2.1 million bullies, every year (Hinduja and Patchin 4). Due to the evidence of the wide occurrence of bullying, which can take place among peers, propagated by young on the aged or by older people on younger victims; it becomes clear that there is a need to have laws to address the issue.

For example, there are documented cases where teachers have been bullying their students, where such cases warrant legal action (Bullying Statistics (b) 1). These bullying laws will be aimed at preventing bullying, or addressing it after it takes place. Presently, the dominant laws covering this issue are state laws, but the inefficiencies of these in stopping bullying depict the need to develop national laws addressing the issue (Bullying Statistics (b) 1). Further, many of the laws against bullying are aimed at school audience, and many do not criminalize the practice of bullying.

For that reason, situations of bullying are handled at the school and home level, and not allowed to proceed to the courts. For that reason, this paper takes the stand that there is a need to criminalize