Bullying Prevention

Bullying is an unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves an imbalance of real or perceived power between individuals with the intent to cause harm. Students who are the targets of bullying behavior and those who exhibit bullying behavior toward others may suffer serious, lasting consequences. In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must include:

• A Deliberate Act: To cause emotional or physical harm to another individual.
• An Imbalance of Power: Those who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and vary in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
• Repetition: Bullying behaviors that display more than one time or have the potential to happen more than once.

• Physical bullying: when a student uses physical force to hurt another student by hitting, pushing, shoving, kicking, taking a student’s belongs or stealing their money
• Verbal bullying: when a student uses words or gestures to humiliate another student by threatening, taunting, intimidating, insulting, sarcasm, name-calling, teasing, slurs, graffiti, put-downs, and ridicule
• Relational bullying: when a student isolates another student from their peer group through leaving them out, gossiping, spreading rumors and scapegoating
• Cyberbullying: when a student uses a cell-phone, texts, e-mails, websites, and social media to bully another student in any of the ways described above.

Conflict typically occurs when two or more students of equal power disagree. Conflict becomes bullying when one of the students intimidates or dominates the other student through bullying behaviors to resolve the conflict.

Bullying becomes harassment when a student is targeted because of a protected characteristic:

• race: nationality, ethnicity
• disability: actual or perceived
• gender: identity, expression, sexual orientation
• immigration status
• religion
• association with a person/group with one or more of these characteristics

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place via electronic communications or digital devices such as cell phones, tablets, or computers. It is deliberate harassing, intimidating, shaming, or otherwise targeting another person via electronic devices. Cyberbullying is a serious act that has lasting consequences.

Cyberbullying commonly occurs on social media like text messaging through devices; instant messaging through devices; email provider services; social media message features; diary sites; interactive games; online profiles; Apps; and more. With easy access and the prevalence of such media and digital forums, personal content can be viewed by strangers as well as acquaintances. Racism, intolerance, and fear can also play a role.

Cyberbullying has special aspects. It can be persistent, permanent, and/or hard to notice. When it is persistent, it can be difficult for students who experience it to find relief. When cyberbullying is posted online, it becomes publicly available and may lead to a negative online reputation impacting college admissions, employment, and other areas of life. Cyberbullying is harder to recognize since educators and parents may not overhear or see it taking place. Similar to acts of bullying, students may be reluctant to report cyberbullying due to humiliation or embarrassment.

Students who are being cyberbullied are often bullied in person as well. Additionally, students who are cyberbullied have a more difficult time escaping the negative behavior.

• Cyberbullying can occur 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and reach a student when he or she is alone and/or when in their own home.
• Cyberbullying messages and images can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source.
• Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures are extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent.

Some types of online or electronic conduct are crimes. The underlying challenge to determining criminal acts is that cyberbullying can take many forms and can violate a number of disparate criminal statues dependent on the underlying content. As examples, but not an exhaustive list, statutory violations can include:

Unfortunately, cyberbullying is not limited to a specified form of conduct. Its only limit is that of the human imagination to cause harm and perpetrators are consistently adopting new technology and innovative techniques to accomplish their goals.

• Identity Theft, Penal Code section 530.5; here the harasser assumes the identity of the victims and creates a social media page or communication that appears to come from the victim. This is also a violation of Penal Code section 529, false personation.
• Unlawful recording, Penal Code section 632; here the harasser records the victim without their knowledge and posts the conversation.

A list of crimes can be found at
https://oag.ca.gov/cyberexploitation

According to bullyingstatistics.org cyberbullying statistics show most cases are taking place on
popular social media sites. Social Media Bullying can take many forms, such as sending mean messages to people or threats to a person's life, aggressive or rude texts, tweets, posts, or messages. It can also be stealing a person's account information to publicize private information by spreading it on social media websites. Possible forums for social media bullying:

• Internet websites with free registration and ease of registration
• Internet websites offering peer-to-peer instant messaging
• Internet websites offering comment forums or sections
• Internet websites offering image or video posting platforms

Rethink Words

My Mobile Watchdog

Surfie App

Net Nanny