Bully-cide and Justice.

[dfiant]

How does one go about getting justice when their bullied child commits suicide?

It just seems unfair and a little like a cash grab to sue education departments to somehow validate that something is wrong, shouldn't we have bullycide laws?

The family in the story below are devestated at the loss of their son and brother who was bullied at 2 schools that were 700km's apart, and he commit suicide because of the bullying.

Should this not come under laws of involuntary manslaughter?

Should we start holding the bullies to task?

Should we start prosecution those in the position of responsibility who stand by and valid the bullying by not acting?

I say sue the bastards until they start getting the message

Alex Wildman's family to receive payout

[Genersis]

Unfortunately, when it comes to bully-cide, it's hard to tell who exactly is responsible, and to what extent.
I worry whoever it is who is punished is just the bully that broke the camel's back, or maybe even a teacher chosen as a scape goat.
Normally the child is bullied by a large quantity of students.
Most people who commit suicide i'd guess normally have no friends, and they also tend to believe no one cares about them.
If no one is sticking up for the kid in his classes and that kid takes his own life, aren't his whole class responsible to some extent for letting it happen?

Should the teacher be punished? What if the teacher was unaware or even unable to act against the bullying?

There's just so many blurred lines...
Not that i'm saying nothing should be done.

[dfiant]

If no one is sticking up for the kid in his classes and that kid takes his own life, aren't his whole class responsible to some extent for letting it happen?

They should definately feel some sort of shame but no they shouldn't feel RESPONSIBLE, just irresponsible.

Should the teacher be punished? What if the teacher was unaware or even unable to act against the bullying?

The teacher has the tools to identify problems, they have the power to deal with problems, they aren't merely people who stand at a chalk board/white board writing notes. The are paid to do a job which includes liasing with parents and identifying and reporting abuse etc. So yes, they should be punished for not doing their job.

Most people who commit suicide i'd guess normally have no friends, and they also tend to believe no one cares about them.

How hard would it be for a teacher to identify THIS problem??? If they are doing their job this would be glaringly obvious.

There's just so many blurred lines...

To victims, the lines aren't that blurry...to those that care the lines aren't that blurry...there is always someone that IS responsible for bullying wether it be the person calling another person names or the teacher that stands by idly and does nothing to prevent it.

We have to start somewhere and we have to make examples so I'm all for the hardline up front.

[Genersis]

...
The teacher has the tools to identify problems, they have the power to deal with problems, they aren't merely people who stand at a chalk board/white board writing notes. The are paid to do a job which includes liasing with parents and identifying and reporting abuse etc. So yes, they should be punished for not doing their job.

Their job is try and create a stable learning environment, and then to actually teach in this environment.
I've found that their powers don't stretch beyond telling bullies off and removing them from the class. Neither of which are a solution as much as a handing the trouble student to the facilities which actually try and deal with the bullying.
Perhaps my personal experience is unique in this sense...

Failed rehabilitation of bullying behaviour doesn't always mean there's a front-line teacher to blame.
Especially as bullying is normally most prevalent outside of classrooms.

How hard would it be for a teacher to identify THIS problem??? If they are doing their job this would be glaringly obvious.

Very; from personal experience, but meh.

It's one thing to identify someone who's at high risk, stopping the bullying is a whole other matter.

To victims, the lines aren't that blurry...to those that care the lines aren't that blurry...there is always someone that IS responsible for bullying wether it be the person calling another person names or the teacher that stands by idly and does nothing to prevent it.

It's easy to get angry and need someone to blame, and yeah, there always IS multiple people to blame.
But it's not as simple as picking out a teacher/teachers and students who might of contributed to it and taking legal action against them.

We have to start somewhere and we have to make examples so I'm all for the hardline up front.

I really doubt fear of legal action is really going to deter bullies, who rarely think of consequences. Their parents will, and i'm sure they will let all their anger out on their kids, who will, in turn, bully other kids because of it. And thus the loop of bad parenting and social skills is perpetuated.

As for teachers, it's not their job to teach kids empathy and social skills.
While they can kick the bully out of the class, they can't treat the root of the problem. They don't have the resources too.

It's the higher-ups in-charge of the anti-bullying schemes that these trouble-students get put on for bad behaviour that need to be held responsible for their failing system.
And these systems will almost always fail from time to time because more often than not, it's the parent of the bully that's the problem.
Failing to raise a child with basic empathy, or perhaps worse, take out their stress on their child, causing the child to vent on others.

I don't have a solution. But the purposed legal action against the bully and teachers seems like it could be the completely wrong approach.

But meh, what do i know...

[pellaz]

its critical that the schools maintain a safe environment to promote learning. Students that commit assault on another should be arrested and go through the courts and not return to the same school.

School districts that dont promote strong anti bullying policies should be made liable.

social and team building skills should be taught in schools not the work place later in life. Family skillz, gay and straight sex education are most important.

[James]

It also depends on the teachers background, a military friend who went into teaching caught 3 young people beating another in a hallway, he separated them and the three attacked him, he put them down, Jim

[Rainbowmum]

I raised two boys , I am happy to say they never were bullies.
They knew that if they started something, I would hold them responsible as well as punish them.

I am not talking about physical punishment, I never laid a hand on them.

They also knew that I had their back and would go to the end of the Earth for them.

If someone picked on my kid ,The teachers knew that i would demand a parent meeting over it .

If that did not work, I was at that kids home in a flash , making sure the parents did something, last step was call the police.

Parents of bullied kids should be aware that the police will do something if called.

They have contracts in schools now , that a 14 year old has to sign if he is a bully , or exhibits violent tendencies, the school can and will call the police.

No amount of money is going to replace your child .

What is needed is a complete change of thinking , parents , teachers and kids

until bullying is seen as a hate crime .

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Bullies are not criminals.

They are sick individuals who are doing 'bad' things out of their illness. Their illness is most likely a side issue of being abused in some manner themselves.

The real issue here is not 'who do we punish' or 'who do we blame'. The real issue is how do we treat the bullies - how to we figure out what is happening and fix it before it leads to real crimes, real domestic violence, real issues.

Most bullies do it to gain power over another. They grave that power because someone stole the power from them.

Punishing them because they are mentally/emotionally unhealthy doesn't fix the problem, in this case it actually makes the problem worse.

[dfiant]

Bullies are not criminals.

They are sick individuals who are doing 'bad' things out of their illness

I had a lot of respect for you until I read this. Nice work, give people a Label, or a disease to hide behind and justify the unjustifiable.

Violence is not an illness. So now we can stop blaming murders who murder, rapists who rape, woman beaters for beating women because they have an illness????

Come on, that is the worst possible load of bullshit that could fall from an intelligent mans mouth.

Bullying is abuse, subduing a victim into submission for their own personal gain....just like rapists, spousal abusers etc.

[Person66]

Bullies do need to be punished [B.A. Leave me out of this discussion pleeeeease, we already had a very long discussion in which I agree that you're right in theory, but in practice setting up a system to address the problem with prisons and parenthood is unrealistic- everyone else ignore that which is between the bracts]

So many kids are bullied to death we have to take a stand against it. Dharun Ravi the kid who used his webcam to tape his roomate Tyler Clementi having some type of tryst with another man and broadcast it to all his friends, leading to Clementi committing suicide, was just found guilty of a hate crime he faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and possible deportation back to India (it should me a minimum of 10 years) watch as he gets a slap on the wrist or less than a year in jail. A friend of mine knew people who knew Clementi as she grew up in the same town, and said that everyone said he was painfully shy, yet they say this is just normal "teasing". Teasing is when both parties can laugh about it.

Fixing the problem is half the battle, they need to be placed where they can't harm others.
I was bullied for 4 years when I was lucky enough to live in a small town. Teachers don't care they'd tell me "I'm not a babysitter". The guidance councelors and social workers would say "just don't react". Finally I just protected myself with my fists, then ALL bullying stopped.

Some kids aren't as strong as I was, we need laws that would treat bullies who physically or psychologically torment their peers the same way they'd treat them if they hit or cursed out their teachers.

D is right.