Bullying Restorative Justice

As more and more children go to school, the rates of bullying go up as time goes by. there are many times at which students suffer all the bullying that occurs within their lives. As more schools become aware of the magnitude of the bullying occurring right under their noses, there are rules created to aid the victim. There are various types of bullying and these are created to do one thing, instill superiority among the “stronger” and place a feeling of inferiority. Bullies are the ones who are detrimental to a child’s development.

Bullying, by definition “is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance” (Stop Bullying). Bullying has quickly become a serious problem in schools, and it negatively impacts both the bully and the victim. Students who have been bullied even once in their lifetime have a higher risk of attempting suicide, and in general have lower self-esteem, causing them to have difficulty maintaining relationships. Bullies themselves also begin to harass their peers because they have been abused or uncared for by their own family. While it may seem bullying is just a normal part of the high school experience, victims of bullying can face many psychological problems. Bullying is not something that should be disregarded, but instead should be properly addressed so that children who are bullied can find the help they desperately need.

Bullying is defined as the prolonged malicious act of harming peers by abusing their own--or an existing imbalance of--power, and has become one of the most common sources of trauma among adolescents. One report shows that one of three children were victims of bullying during some point in their life, and that 10-14% of all adolescents were victims of chronic bullying for at least six months prior to participating in the survey. Children who were victims of bullying are also found to be at a higher risk of diagnoses for anxiety disorders and depression during young and middle adulthood. These victims are reported to be more likely to have lower levels of general/physical health, and lower educational acquirements than young and middle-aged adults who were not bullied (Wolke & Lereya, 2015). Because bullying is such a prominent problem, citizens, policymakers, and social scientists alike, should feel or have some social and moral obligation to address, and hopefully avert bullying. The state of bullying, and how it is enacted, is constantly changing and adapting to social frameworks. Because bullies can adapt to social changes and regulations, we, as a society, should be equally adaptive in how we perceive, address, prevent, and punish bullying.

Another policy which could fix the current punishment policies in schools is the Restorative Justice system which focuses on improving the student-teacher relationship and the overall classroom environment because this would help keep the students content and safe. When a student is satisfied with the environment of the classroom, they will be more willing to be involved and engaged in classroom activities. This is why, Teasley feels it is important to focus on restoring the mutual respect in schools and have students take responsibility for their actions (Teasley). When a student has a respectable relationship with their instructor, or any adult figure for that matter, they will be more inclined to be obedient. They will also be more willing to learn and to be more affable to their superiors.

Bullying at school is a big problem that is found in all the schools in the United States and across the world. Since the late 1990s there have been several fatal school shootings committed by victims of bullying that have brought bullying major media attention. This has resulted in an increase of awareness about the harmful effects on the kids being bullied as well as the bullies themselves. This has brought a large amount of local, state, and nationwide programs designed to try to prevent bullying or to at least try to contain the problem. “In an effort to adequately address the problem, many schools are taking a proactive approach through prevention and intervention, but how do we know if and when such intervention is effective? First and foremost, we must have an accurate understanding of the dynamic and complex phenomenon of bullying across development and as it spans the multiple levels of the social ecology” (Casper, Meter, & Card, 2015, par 2). Many psychologists, sociologists, and school administrators have been publishing research on school bullying. Bullying is a significant threat to many children because it causes psychological problems not only for those who get bullied but also those who do the bullying. Even though bullying is a significant problem the are few solutions that can help prevent or significantly reducing bullying like reporting bullying, know the characteristics, and passing laws.

A key aspect of restorative justice lies in the offender apologizing for the crime and members

The purpose of this paper is to describe how restorative justice can benefit school districts by helping them change the behavior of students who fail to comply with school rules and policies. Educational institutions that rely less on suspension or expulsion and more on methods that teach children how to understand their actions and how they impact others can have a positive difference in their lives as well as the people close to them. I believe that restorative justice can be used in a similarly to the way probation is offered to adults that are guilty of perpetrating a crime and are less likely to offend again.

Restorative justice focuses on repairing the damage created by a crime in an alternative way to the classic, punish-based systems that are commonly used throughout most parts of the world (Boslaugh 2013). The restorative justice process requires the offender to take responsibility for their behaviour and its consequences by viewing the crime as an injury to an individual, instead of an objective state, and concentrating on the victim, their needs and who is responsible to address their needs and reverse the wrongs of the crime (Boslaugh 2013). The many benefits that have been found for restorative justice systems programs include; reduced recidivism and increased well-being of victims (Boslaugh 2013). This essay argues that restorative justice

There has been a lot of research done on bullying since the 1980s when Olweus, who was a Norwegian researcher, began to study bullying. In Scandinavia, bullying had become a social interest because people noticed that it was a problem in their society. The school officials in Scandinavia did not take action against bullying until three boys from Norway had committed suicide because they were bullied by their peers. This event caused national interest in bully and victim problems. Since, people suspected that there was a bullying issue they had conducted a study in which data was obtained from 150,000 students .The results indicated that 15% of students in Norwegian schools were involved in bullying (Olweus, 2014).

Students who are victims of bullying force themselves out of bed every morning with an overwhelming sense of despair because they know one foot stepped inside the institution interprets into a new day and a new game for the oppressor. Even though there has been a nationwide policy adopted by many Institutions in the efforts of putting a stop to bullying, many victims stay unnoticed due to failure of acknowledgment, failure of anti-bullying programs, and failure of catching early discerning behavior. Nonetheless, Bullying has gotten to be such an overused word that those who are in dire need of assistance aren’t receiving the attention needed to eliminate the issue from the start, however, there are solutions that could solve the epidemic

Gonzalez (2012) investigated the impact of restorative justice as an alternative to punitive justice in American public schools. Restorative justice seeks to use interest-based negotiation strategies so that students, and teachers, are empowered to find positive solutions to school discipline problems. Results from schools throughout the United States indicate that restorative justice reduces punitive outcomes such as student suspensions and improves school attendance and timely arrival to classes. In addition, students and teachers surveys indicate the majority of participants in restorative justice mediation are satisfied with the outcomes. Based on these results schools throughout the United States are seeking to implement restorative

Since the traditional approach is only concern about the victims and giving a punitive authoritarian reward to the offenders, restorative approach is design to restore the damage relationship, and reintegrate the both the offenders and the victims back to the community. This approach is concern about two significant things, which are safe school community and behavioural change. This approach helps the offender to acknowledge the wrongdoing and the rate of harm he or she has caused the victims and the community, also to act ‘restoratively’. This approach through pre-conference provides the offender the understanding that he or she had a choice of amendment with the victims and the community, also understanding

Not only are bullied children anxious, depressed, and underachieving during the months and years of their torment, but even years later, they have lower self-esteem as well as painful memories. 7 The picture is somewhat different, but often more ominous, for bullies. Contrary to the public perception that bullies are actually insecure and lonely, at the peak of their bullying they usually have friends who abet, fear, and admire them, and they seem brashly unapologetic about the pain they have inflicted, as they often claim, "all in fun." But their popularity and school success fade over the years, and especially if they are boys, they run a high risk of ending up in prison. In one longitudinal study done by Olweus, by age 24, two-thirds of the boys who had been bullies in the second grade were convicted of at least one felony, and one- third of those who had been bullies in the sixth through the ninth grades were already convicted of three or more crimes, often violent ones. International research likewise finds that children who are allowed to regularly victimize other children are at high risk of becoming violent offenders as adolescents and adults. 8 Unfortunately, bullying during middle childhood seems to be universal: it occurs in every nation that has been studied, is as much a problem in small

School bullying and bullying as a whole has become a growing concern. The need for more intervention is more recognized, as incidents of bullying and inappropriate acts towards others occur in places outside of the classroom. This literature takes a closer look at bullying in schools. Olwesus (2013) states “the field of bullying research is to some extent plagued by problems, disagreements, and unresolved issues” (p.752). Whether if anyone will agree on the root of bullying, the fact remains that bullying has to be examined at its very core to remedy the matter before it becomes a bigger concern. There is a dire need for intervention based programs to be set in place to address the fact the act of bullying has lasting effects on the bully and the victim. When intervention programs are put into place to address bullying, the act of bullying decreases due to the gained understanding of the effects.

It is only in the recent years that attention has turned toward the widespread problem of bullying, especially in schools, and that bullying is identified as a serious problem that merits intervention and research (Coy). Therefore, relatively little effort has been made to overcome or address the problem, which still remains a widespread social vice. This paper purports to illustrate how, despite efforts made to rectify the situation, bullying still remains rampant, and is getting worse.