Sticks & Stones

Three months ago, Phoebe Prince committed suicide. She was romantically involved with two boys at her school and as a result, other students targeted her through name-calling and threats of violence. She was found dead after a particularly harsh day on January 14, 2010. Bullying has transformed into an entirely different beast from that experienced in my recent childhood. Though I am hesitant to agree with the claim that children have become meaner over the years, the technology advancement of cell phones, instant messaging and social networking sites have enabled adolescents to have larger audiences, thereby giving their taunts a harsher bite. Now instead of privately excluding peers from cliques and the customary face-to-face disparagements, students can exclude others from facebook friendship or maliciously send indecent photos of each other to large groups of people.

Prince's unfortunate suicide was not the typical reaction, however bullying is still a problem that demands greater attention. The recent prosecution of 6 of Prince's classmates demonstrates one approach to dealing with the bullying problem. That response is to bring law enforcement into schools to further encourage criminalization of bullying as a means of prevention. Though I acknowledge that criminalizing certain offenses can deter some offensive behavior, I do not think it’s appropriate with regards to the pairing of school aged children and the specific offense of bullying.

Criminalization will not Deter the Bullying

The desire to deter bullies through criminal prosecution is misguided. The problem with this approach is that there is no clear definition of bullying so students may not know whether or not they are bullies. Even the students in Prince's scenario most likely felt a bit justified in their mistreatment of the decedent. Those students, who were charged with harassment and stalking (among other charges), saw Prince as a girl who maliciously tried to steal their boyfriends. Some students might restrict the definition of bullying to physical attacks whiles others might describe it as a combination of taunts and physical attacks. Another group of adolescents might believe that bullying can describe purely psychological harassment. On top of those distinctions is the question of whether bullying can only happen on school grounds or if it can also occur via the Internet. Until there is a solid description of the offense, it cannot be deterred because the offenders do not know that they are offending.

Furthermore, students who are bullied are very unlikely to tell anyone about their torment for fear of being deemed weak by their peers. For this reason, it is difficult for school officials and parents to evaluate the severity of the bullying until tragedies like Prince’s occur. Assuming that children are capable of the cost-benefit analysis that the deterrence theory requires, there is no incentive for them to change their behavior as the likelihood of being criminally punished is low. The punishment might be greater than the satisfaction they retain from bullying however if they are unlikely to be caught, that balance has no meaning.

Steps to a Solution

Punishing bullies with jail time may serve the retributionist purpose of providing vindication to the family and friends of students harmed by such behavior but it will not effectively prevent the worsening problem. Rather than allow politicians to use bullying as fodder for their campaign speeches, the government should focus on prevention of those initial harms. The first step towards a solution should be to specifically define bullying. I do not believe that all forms of bullying should be banned in school settings. To a certain extent, the meanness experienced in school prepares students for future rejection in life and give them the ability to discern how to find self-worth beyond the words and treatment of others. However, the level of taunts experienced by Prince and students across the country need to be addressed and limited. The final concrete definition of bullying should take into consideration the learning experience that a certain amount of bullying supplies.

It also may be prudent to define bullying through its less dramatic effects. Bullied children often try to avoid school in order to avoid their harasser. They do so by pretending to be sick in order to stay home or through frequent visits to the school nurse's office. School policy could be geared towards carefully monitoring students who frequently ask to see the nurse for not merely serious medical problems but also for negative interpersonal relationships with their classmates. This is somewhat similar to the approach taken by Professor Dan Olweus's bullying prevention program. Olweus uses a community approach to dealing with bullying in schools. The program calls for teachers, administrators, cafeteria personal and parents to join students in the attempt to curb bullying on campus through both a dedication to vigilance of the behavior and through education of both students and adults about to help determine what kinds of behavior is unacceptable. Though I think Professor Olweus’ definition of bullying is overly inclusive, his methods have found success.

Adults may be better able to deal with physical bullying, but verbal and social bullying are easier to detect by the students. Bullying works to isolate its target. It makes that bullied student feel less self-worth than the greater group. Programs that help students to identify bullying and encourages them to intervene on behalf of their classmates mitigates the abuse and negates the isolation felt by the victim. A private school in Northern New Jersey has successfully put this principle into action by instituting a "safe room" connected to the guidance department where students are not allowed to bully one another. If a student is going through a problem, they can find support from their classmates or administers if they choose. Implementing policies like this are steps towards alleviating the effects of bullying in school settings.

Conclusion

Bullying became more severe over the years but criminalizing the actors will not dull its power. Lawmakers need to direct their attention to schools in order to have real preventative impact to save the potential Phoebe Princes.

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