The First Amendment of the United States Constitution focuses on five rights guaranteed to to Americans. Freedom of Speech is one of the five rights that individuals use to justify their actions online. Consequently, a person being accused of cyberbullying is often pardoned for their actions. Despite the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, cyberbullies should not be protected by this amendment when accused of cyberbullying another person because of the effects it has on the victim. To begin, any person that has cyberbullied another person should be punished, whether it be in school or legally. The victim being cyber bullied often feels “angry, hurt, embarrassed, or scared” (Source A). The way that these victims feel is also displayed through movies like “Cyberbully” and “13 Reasons Why.” These movies have a school setting and they reveal how a victim feels at school and in their community when being cyberbullied. If cyberbullying was supposed to be justified by the First Amendment or anything …show more content…
Some people believe that the internet is “designed for opinions, rants, and invective” (Source C). They use that excuse to justify their actions whether their comments are friendly or not. In another case, more than 50 students protest a principal’s decision to suspend a student for cyberbullying. The students that did participate in the sit-in expressed that the student accused of cyberbullying was “exerting his rights to post what he pleases” (Source B). These accounts prove that the bullies know what they are doing is wrong and are aware of the potential outcome of their words. When students are accused of cyberbullying another person, they often find an excuse for what they did; the First Amendment of the Constitution. However, if these adolescents felt as if their comments were not wrong in any way, they would not bother to look for an excuse when being
In the ophelia project fact sheet 60 % of targets said that their online experiences as a target of cyber bullying affected them at school and at home by causing them intense anger. Cyber bullies are very mean and should be prosecuted. Cyber bullies cause mental and physical harm as well as the message the bully is relaying can be viewed by a much bigger audience and the message will forever be in cyberspace. Even though some people believe that prosecuting cyber bullies violates the 1st amendment, individuals should be prosecuted for cyber bullying because cyber bullies are making threats which violates the 1st amendment.
Schools should take action if there is harm being done to others. In Document A of” Should Schools Be Allowed to Limit Students’ Online Speech?”, they surveyed a random sample of 10-18 year-olds from a large school district in the southern US. It shows that girls are more likely to be cyberbullied. It also shows that girls are more likely to cyberbully somebody else. According to the graph, 25.1% of girls have been cyberbullied in their lifetime,
In modern society today, freedom of speech has been a main concern to delinquents as to what they say on the web. Although, cyberbullying has turned into a major issue online that has gotten the schools’ attention and turn towards the security of their students. To accomplish nurturing their students’ safety, they have punished pupils for what they say on the Internet that is harmful in account of others. Alternatively, the Constitution believes this goes against the First Amendment and violates the students’ rights. Schools should be authorized to limit students’ online speech to decrease the matter of cyberbullying which has affected us in many ways.
Every day millions of people log onto social media platforms. There has been much discussion on whether or not individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media platforms. Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media. Although cyberbullying is just a small crime, people should still be punished for harsh or hateful remarks on social media. Having freedom of speech is a privilege not a right, we should focus on the bigger stories on cyberbullying, and individuals affected by cyberbullying are affected in all aspects of their life.
Cyberbullying is an everyday situation for teenagers around the world. Many teenagers suffer from bullies that are treating them badly and differently than other people. Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media because of the impact that it has on the victim. The cyberbully should be prosecuted because of how the victim reacts to the situation, how the bully harrasses them, and how it spreads around the internet.
On the issue of whether or not schools should be allowed to limit students’ online speech, I firmly believe that they shouldn’t. Doing so directly infringes upon the student’s first amendment rights to the freedom of speech, and for what? Numerous surveys have shown that cyberbullying isn’t a huge problem. Further, one document affirms the conclusion that cyberbullying is just another phase in the long-running evolution of bullying. With this essay, I aim to convince you that schools should not limit their students’ online speech, using my vast knowledge as well as cold hard facts.
Did you know that nearly 1 in 3 teens have admitted to being a victim of cyberbullying? That’s an absurdly large number of teens! But what really is cyberbullying anyway? Well, the Cyberbullying Research Center defines it as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices”. Congresswomen Linda Sanchez is currently sponsoring a bill that would make bullying through an electronic means a federal crime and I wholeheartedly support it! Individuals should definitely be prosecuted for statements made on social media.
Students do not always realize that their free speech can go against certain limits that the Supreme Court has issued on this freedom. The US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights suggests that harassment creates a hostile environment when the conduct is sufficiently severe or persistent so as to interfere with or limit a students' ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or opportunities offered by the school. (Doc. G) In consonance with this, it is the school's responsibility to address harassment incidents to protect students' privacy rights. Allowing full access to the first amendment in schools can often result in the violation of the fourth amendment by infringing privacy rights. There are many forms of harassment that can violate students' civil rights. According to the same department, harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, or disability violates the civil rights laws that the OCR enforces. (Doc. G) Cyberbullying often falls into these categories which are all violations of civil rights, and many schools may not have proper standards for this violation. It is the school's responsibility to protect the civil rights of students, teachers, and administrators, so they must take a stand against discrimination, including online speech. Not only does cyberbullying contravene with civil rights, it also causes emotional
What is cyberbullying? Though it is a pressing issue, few truly understand the term. What is the first amendment? Contradicting the first
Cyberbullying is defined as, ¨...bullying that takes place using electronic technology¨ by stopbullying.gov. Recently, schools have been taking actions to punish students for what they do or say online. There have been many debates and trails to figure out whether or not schools should have the power to limit and punish students’ speech online. The Supreme Court ruled that if online speech is disruptive, schools can punish students. School districts should not have the power to limit online speech because online speech does not affect most students and teachers, is not very disruptive, and free speech is a precious right.
So you’ve been staring at an electronic screen for weeks, all day. People taking advantage of technology cause cyber bullying. Excessive technology, especially causes negative health effects and a lack of thought. Too much technology affects you terribly. Most importantly, numerous people get cyber bullied online.
Furthermore, prosecuting individuals for statements made on the internet would squander taxpayers’ money. As “The Dangers of Cyber bullying” noted, “Congresswoman Linda Sanchez is sponsoring the Megan Meier Cyber Bullying Prevention Act.” Although some may say that financing the court system for the prosecution of “social media bullies” is necessary, it is proven that will also waste money and time. Surely, individuals should not be penalized for statements made on the internet.
However, before addressing the writings of Habermas and Raboy in support of my position, this paper must first define both communication rights and cyberbullying. A clear understanding of communication rights and the how cyberbullying exists in the public sphere that is the internet, will set the stage to understand how Habermas’s and Raboy’s writings justify the Senate’s approach to a very real issue in Canada today.
The Center presented the officials with a made-up scenario in which a student, using the web, threatened to inflict bodily harm on another student. On a scale of one to ten, one meaning no law enforcement role was required and ten requiring a “significant” role, the respondents rated the situation a 9.1. This was the scenario that drew the strongest approval of police intervention (Patchin). Interestingly, one of Rebecca Sedwick’s tormentors told her to die via a Facebook post (Slifer, Fla. Girls). In such a case, the Cyberbullying Research Center instructed law enforcement officials to discuss publicly the consequences of cyberbullying for education and deterrence purposes (Patchin). Obviously, talking things over cannot prevent everything, but it increases awareness in school administrators and parents. The Center also asserted officers should “discipline students for conduct outside of school if it infringes on the rights of other students or causes material disruptions to the school’s learning environment” (Patchin). Ultimately, the Center left interpretations of cyberbullying incidents and the required responses to the officers themselves. In fact, the Center more clearly defines law enforcement’s role in cyberbullying cases in its general statement found on its homepage. The document says officials should
Many US citizens who believe that the First Amendment applies to students would agree that students have the right to voice their opinions and that hate speech is protected. But, Cyber-bullying, including regular bulling, violates the First Amendment because bulling is a form of slander. Slander is not an opinion and is just meant to ruin the reputation of others. The Amendments that are written in the Constitution are meant to protect us against the government not other citizens. An example of this can be found in an ABA Journal article “Cyber bulling law would violate students’ free speech rights, opponents say”. This article says that a bill is being proposed in Indiana which if passed,