Bullying is a serious issue that can have lasting effects on a child’s development, such as feelings of insecurity and inadequacy. But studies show that such negative emotions often lead to aggression, which in turn can lead people down the path to violence.
In fact, bullying is one of the risk factors right alongside other factors like drug abuse and domestic violence.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines bullying as unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated.
In New Jersey, bullying may become a criminal offense depending on the acts and behavior.
What Is Bullying?
The term “bullying” can be interpreted in many different ways. One definition of bullying is “aggressive behavior in which one or more persons repeatedly and intentionally hurt, threaten, bully, or abuse another person”.
According to US Legal, the legal definition of bullying is cited as “an intentional act that causes harm to others and may involve verbal harassment, verbal or non-verbal threats, physical assault, stalking, or other methods of coercion such as manipulation, blackmail, or extortion
Bullying may include verbal threats, physical assault, intimidation, or other forms of inappropriate behavior, such as harassment, disorderly conduct, and acts that disturb the peace”.
Is Bullying Illegal?
When it comes to protecting teens from bullying within the school setting, many states including New Jersey have enacted anti-bullying laws to raise awareness and protect students. But bullying, in general, is not illegal because people can still be bullies without breaking the law.
However, some laws prohibit specific actions, such as cyberbullying or destroying property. Many of these laws are framed as “anti-bullying” laws to alleviate the problem and reduce incidents before they escalate into something worse.
Federal Anti-Bullying Laws and Programs
Federal anti-bullying laws have not been created, but some federal laws and protections apply to bullying situations.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
In 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was enacted to ensure that each student who has a disability receives a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
These important rights are outlined in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which states: “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be denied the benefits of any program operated by any agency of the United States”.
In 1990, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was amended to include specific requirements for students in the public school systems with disabilities. IDEA requires that all children, ages 3-21, eligible for special education services be guaranteed a FAPE by their local school district.
A Free and Appropriate Public Education is defined as one that meets the individual educational needs of each child with a disability as adequately as the needs of students without disabilities are met.
With this amendment, Congress added the requirement that schools, and not parents, must decide whether a child with a disability receives FAPE. Schools must provide children with disabilities the educational services they need to meet their individual needs.
IDEA also requires school districts and states to create policies and procedures to limit bullying in the educational settings that students with disabilities attend.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 mandates that schools provide students with disabilities with equal access to the educational programs and services they receive.
Schools are required to “take corrective action” when a significant emotional or behavioral interference (such as bullying) interferes with a child’s educational experience.
Section 504 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects children with disabilities from discrimination in programs or activities, whether on a playground, on a lunch break, or on the school bus. The ADA guarantees children with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in their school’s program and includes defenses for bullying if it interferes with their FAPE.
New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act
The New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act became law on December 1, 2012. It requires all schools in New Jersey to adopt anti-bullying policies that include enumerated categories and specific procedural requirements.
Schools must establish procedures for the prevention, intervention, and remediation of bullying.
As of December 2012, New Jersey law includes the following “protected categories” as part of its anti-bullying policy: religion, race, ethnicity or nationality, gender, sexual orientation or identification, physical or mental disability, and association with members of other groups.
The policy must also include procedures for investigation when it is alleged that any type of bullying occurred. Investigations are to be conducted promptly, and when a complaint is substantiated, the school must take appropriate corrective action.
Examples of Anti-Bullying Protection in Other States
Many states have laws that address bullying. Some examples are:
- Matt Epling Safe School Law (Michigan) — This law requires schools to establish policies and procedures for responding to threats, including cyber-attacks. The law mandates that schools develop an anti-bullying policy, adopt an anti-bullying policy with a procedure for reporting incidents, track bullying incidents, and report them to the school district’s superintendent or designee.
- NC School Violence Prevention Act (North Carolina) — Public schools throughout North Carolina are required to enact a plan of prevention and intervention to reduce and prevent instances of student-on-student violence. The NC School Violence Prevention Act protects against bullying by requiring the development, implementation, and evaluation of a written plan for preventing school violence that must be approved by the superintendent or designee before each new academic year.
Other Legal Terms for Bullying Behaviors
Bullying can be a hard thing to define. However, there are other behaviors and facets of bullying that can be quite readily defined from a legal perspective.
- Harassment: The behavior of someone intentionally subjecting you to unwanted offensive comments or actions that harm your mental health. Harassment may occur in person or via the internet (a behavior known as “cyber harassment” or “cyberbullying”).
- Assault and Battery: Assault is when one person threatens or otherwise attempts to cause another person severe bodily injury. This is often referred to as “simple assault” and occurs in the form of a domestic dispute or public altercation that escalates into a physical fight. Battery is the act of using physical force and/or offensive physical contact against someone else, without their consent. Assault and battery are committed with the intent to do harm, sometimes with a deadly weapon.
Penalties For Breaking Bullying Laws
Depending on the degree of the offense, there are criminal punishments associated with violating anti-bullying laws.
Examples of bullying behaviors that are considered a crime include:
- Physical assault
- Threats of violence or death
- Stalking
- Hate crimes
- Extortion or blackmail
- Unwanted phone calls and texts with the intent to harass
- Cyberbullying
If you are convicted of a bullying offense, penalties for breaking anti-bullying laws include:
- Fines
- Jail time or imprisonment
- Mandatory counseling
What Do You Do If Your Child Experiences or Is Accused of Bullying?
Parents should take accusations of bullying very seriously. If your child is being bullied, contact your school’s administration immediately for help. It is important to follow your child’s lead when dealing with this issue but in some cases, you need to work with the administration first to ensure that the bullying does not escalate.
If your child has been accused of bullying, you can take the following steps to resolve the situation:
- Get all the facts. Find out everything you can about what happened. Speak to the victim and other witnesses to the incident to obtain every detail that will help you interpret what happened. Asking questions will also get information that might be important and might not be known by others involved in the incident, such as school staff or law enforcement officers.
- Check-in with your child’s school to see if there have been previous instances of bullying and/or cyberbullying
- Research the laws in your state which address bullying and cyberbullying. In addition to being aware of what you can do legally to stop bullying (if anything), it will give you some guidelines on how to handle the situation and whether or not other options should be considered. If the situation is serious enough, consider consulting with a juvenile defense attorney.
- Set up a meeting with the parents of everyone involved and the school counselor. Consider bringing your child along to this meeting. Keep in mind that the most important goal of the meeting is to determine what happened and prevent it from happening again.
