Should Cyberbullying Be a Crime? Essay examples

The word 'bullying' has developed a very traditional definition amongst society: a face-to-face interaction involving either verbal abuse and/or physical abuse. With the technological advances that have occurred within the past 15 years, bullying has become anything but traditional. Children and teens have more access to the Internet and to social media platforms more than ever before, thus allowing them to avoid face-to-face interaction. Within the past 15 years, there has been a significant rise of cyberbullying in the youth demographic (ages 12-18) (Slonje, Smith, & Frisén, 2013). In order to understand what the difference between traditional bullying and cyberbullying is, one must familiarize themselves with the definition of cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is a type of bullying that takes place over electronic technology throughout all hours of the day that can affect teens and adolescents on their daily basis. This electronic technology includes text, gaming devices, internet, emails, blogs, cell phones, apps, computers, and tablets which can be used for positive activities but can also hurt people. According to Edwina Thomas Washington (2015), these electronic technology gives the bully the capacity to contact the victim without having a face-to-face encounter. In addition, it occurs on different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. This harmful behavior incorporates posting, sharing, or sending opposing, conflicting, and false content regarding someone else. Additionally, it includes sharing information referring to someone else with the purpose of producing discomfort and humiliation. Some cyberbullying passes the line into illegal or culpable behavior. Through the years, cyberbullying has become very common in teenagers.

“...1 in 3 teens [have] admitted to being a victim of cyberbullying…” says child psychologist, Eden Foster, in reference to a survey, talked about in “The Dangers of Cyberbullying” by Brett Warke, that shows the absolute significance of cyberbullying in this day and age. Cyberbullying on social media is everywhere and it’s about time that someone took some action against it, and, in this case, taking legal action via prosecution may be the best way to go. Let it not be said that cyberbullying and bullying are different, infact, the only difference is the platform they take place on. Cyberbullying is done with the same malicious intent as face-to-face bullying is done with: the intent to hurt a victim in a psychological or physical way- showing

There are many discrepancies with Australia’s Cyberbullying laws that has triggered issues nationwide. Cyberbullying happens across all ages however it is mostly seen with Australia’s youth, where 1 in 5 teenagers have experienced Cyberbullying in their life. Cyberbullying is where a person uses the internet or an electronic device to harass, discriminate, stalk, threats, intimidate, defame or to encourage suicide (Legalaid, 2017). Cyberbullying has become a legal issue as it has resulted in depression within young Australians and in even more serious cases, where the bullying is intense, it has resulted in the receiver committing suicide. Cyberbullying in youth is a difficult situation as it could be difficult to determine an appropriate sentence for juveniles and challenging to decipher the element of intent.

In society, cyber bullying is a serious problem. This issue is amplified twofold in today’s culture due to the immense popularity of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. While they provide communication between people, this communication can sometimes turn dangerous. Threatening and hateful comments are sent to victims daily. One victim, however, made an impact with her society. Grace McCormac, a teenager from Howard County, Maryland, committed suicide after receiving bitter comments from her classmates. This occurrence pushed Maryland legislature to create Grace’s Law; an act that states that bullying minors through social media is a crime and will be punished with a fine of $500 along with a year in prison (1). Grace’s Law is a law that should be supported because before the law, bullying restrictions weren’t effective, cyber bullying has increased the chances of suicide, and the law takes pressure off of the parents of victims.

Technology is rapidly advancing at a dizzying rate which has seen many amazing feats but has also introduced and increased the act of Cyberbullying. Cyber bullying can be defined as targeting someone using any form of technology (this includes social media) to tease, stalk or humiliate someone online (Dictionary.com, 2016). Cyberbullying is so detrimental because it encourages the targeting of an individual; It is often done in secret with the bully hiding who they are by creating false profiles or names, or sending anonymous messages. It is difficult to remove as it is shared online so it can be recorded and saved in different places. Cyberbullying has such a negative impact that research shows that there is a correlation between the violent

In their e-book, Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard, Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin define Cyberbullying as: “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers, cell phones, or other electronic devices” (36). Hinduja and Patchin are both Ph.D.’s, professors at universities, as well as primary researchers at the Cyberbullying Research Center. The research and community outreach that they are involved in could greatly reduce the number of cyberbullying cases worldwide. Cyberbullies typically operate through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to harass, intimidate, threaten, embarrass or otherwise target an individual. Cyberbullying is awfully prevalent nowadays and it is a far bigger issue than most people realize. It is an issue that is quickly growing; as there are hundreds of thousands of people signing on to use these networks for the first time every day. According to NoBullying.com, 25% of teenagers report that they have experienced repeated bullying via their cell phone or on the Internet, while 52% report having experienced it at least

Cyberbullying is the abuse of an electronic source to degrade and devalue others. It is cruel and immoral but unfortunately unavoidable in today’s age.

“I wanted to say bye… for, like, ever” (Abigail Pesta). Those were the last words Rebecca Sedwick texted to her two middle school friends before jumping to her death. This is one of many cases where bullying has been a common cause of death especially for young adolescents. A statistic from bullyingstastics.org states that 1 in 3 adolescents have experienced cyber threats online. Based on the research, now with advanced technology and social media sites, cyberbullying is a growing concern today. There is no federal anti-bullying law, but every state has their own laws. With each cyberbullying case being unique, defining this recent phenomenon can be challenging. This paper will look to address the issues behind cyberbullying, ways it can be stopped, and a universal definition that can be applied to these hateful acts.

There is a growing crisis in technology that needs to end. This particular crisis is known as cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is the use of an electronic device to bully a person. If a cyberbully tries to send a mean message, some people may ignore it or some people might take it the hard way. Lots of people may even think suicidal thoughts or actions. Cyberbullying should always be punishable and needs to be illegal.

With the widespread use of social media and texting, bullies have taken on a new form as trolls hidden in their bedrooms, searching for victims. The three sources, “The Dangers of Cyberbullying” by Brett Warnke, “What is Cyberbullying?” from the Ophelia Project, and Kirk Sigmon’s “Sacrificing the First Amendment to Catch ‘Cyberbullies,’” explain cyberbullying and how politicians plan on stopping it. These steps are necessary and helpful in protecting the “20% of youth ages 11-18 [who] have been a victim of cyberbullying” (“What is Cyberbullying?”). The worst part of cyberbullying is that it doesn’t stop at the end of the

From personal experience with witnessing rude comments on the internet, cyberbullying isn’t an easy thing to get rid of. In the radio interview about the dangers of cyberbullying with Brett Warnke, Brett states, “But with a surge in the popularity of new technology among children and teens, bullying has become a problem that doesn’t always stop at the end of the school day.” In this statement, he tells us that cyberbullying is not just a problem that halts, cyberbullying does not stop because people are on technology constantly and they could be anywhere in the world but still be able to

Traditional bullying has been happening for a long time, but cyberbullying is fairly new, and is becoming more popular. Bullying is repetitive, negative interactions with the intention of inflicting physical or emotional pain to the victim, or in any way making the victim feel bad about themselves (Jan & Husains, 2015). Due to advances in technology, a new form of bullying called cyberbullying had begun to grow in popularity. Cyberbullying is similar to traditional bullying in that the intent of the bully is the same, but cyberbullying is committed using the internet, or cell phones (Baraldsnes, 2015). There has been a connection that has been found between bullying and cyber bullying; and that is that some of the bullies will continue to attack the

Cyberbullying is a crime due to the fact that cyberbullying has led to suicide and deaths before

We use technology in almost every aspect of our daily lives; it is how we stay connected in this fast-paced world. Technology provides many benefits, but it has the potential to destroy many people. With technology use on the rise, bullying has taken a new, more destructive form. Cyberbullying, as defined by the Cyberbullying Research Center, is the willful and repeated harm inflicted through the medium of electronic text (qtd. in Chait). Cyberbullying is a serious problem and has serious consequences.