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It has been just over a week since Amanda Todd's tragic and heart-breaking suicide, which she committed to end the pain from the endless torment of the bullies in her life. A week filled with the public's sadness, questions, and soul-searching. A week of outcries: "How did we stand by and let this happen?" "What can we do to prevent another Amanda Todd tragedy?" "Bullies should be punished immediately and harshly!"

And at the end of that week, suddenly and predictably, eight girls in London, Ontario, have been arrested for bullying another, and have been charged with criminal harassment.

We deservedly feel guilt and shame over Amanda's fate and our inaction as bystanders to other cases of bullying. But the desire to do something, and perhaps to relieve our sense of guilt, should not lead us to precipitously arrest every bully, without first exploring other avenues for resolving these conflicts.

Of the many options available to deal with bullying and bullies, the criminal law is the harshest, most punitive response we can use against anyone, particularly young people, who are still developing and often fighting their own emotional battles.

In our efforts to prevent another Amanda Todd tragedy, we must take care not to be too hasty in the use of our bluntest and most retaliatory weapon, the criminal law.

Our zeal must not render us bullies, as well.
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Currently, we know very little about the London events that have led to the charges against the young women, or the emotional torment of their victim. Reports indicate that a female student was the victim of emotional, physical, and cyber-bullying -- all pointing toward another possibly tormented young life.

It may well be that the arrest and criminal charges against those eight girls in London is justified.

It may well be that all other options for dealing with this problem had been explored and tried, to no avail.

But it is equally likely that under pressure to respond forcefully to bullying, the police cast the net too wide and arrested too many people.

Did educators and parents try other, more effective, more empowering means of resolving the problem?

In general, the heavy hand of criminal law is a poor deterrent to most crimes. Its impact can be devastating to the accused and unhelpful to the victim. Worse still, criminally charging the perpetrators may end neither the bullying nor the suffering of the victim. Indeed, the teasing, the emotional harm, the disenfranchisement and the dislike of the victim may increase, especially if the kids arrested are popular, or if their friends and other community members believe that the accusations or arrests were unjustified or a disproportionate response.

There are alternative, more effective means of preventing and dealing with bullying. These means require the collaboration and involvement of parents, teachers, counselors and community members. They require changes in our habits and an examination of how we, as adults, speak about colleagues and peers. They require changes in our parenting styles: What shows we permit our children to watch; whether we talk to them about integrity and courage; whether we emphasize "coolness" over kindness.

Do we, as a community, use supportive processes that encourage accountability by those who have inflicted the hurt? Do we implement and use processes that facilitate communication by the victim, who may feel empowered by the chance to confront her tormentors? Do we search for the possible, underlying problems in the life of the bully that have led him or her to act meanly? Do we look for solutions that can help both the victims and the bullies and will be transformative for everyone?

These measures may appear more time-consuming, but in the end, they are likely to be far more effective than the threat and the risks of criminal charges.

Skip these efforts and immediately charge, criminalize and potentially imprison kids who have engaged in bullying, and we send our children the wrong message: "Your harsh and unforgiving behaviour will be met with even harsher and sometimes more draconian consequences."

It's like reacting to a four-year-old's hitting of a friend by spanking the four-year-old. "You are going to hurt someone else? Well, we are going to hurt you even more," we threaten.

Skip the other efforts and we are abdicating our responsibility as parents and as a community, and leaving everything to the heavy hand of the criminal law, which should only and always be used as a last resort.

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Should Bullies Really Be Punished By Criminal Law?

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It has been just over a week since Amanda Todd's tragic and heart-breaking suicide, which she committed to end the pain from the endless torment of the bullies in her life. A week filled with the public's sadness, questions, and soul-searching. A week of outcries: "How did we stand by and let this happen?"

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They had to set the Karate Kid remake in China. If they had set it in modern-day America, Daniel-san would have been mercilessly bullied by the kids from Cobra Kai, he would have killed himself, and the rest of the movie would have been a courtroom drama where Daniel's parents sought to bring the evil sensei to justice in the form of a multi-million dollar civil suit.

You see, American children apparently have become so fragile, and Americans parents so litigious, that schoolyard bullying is as likely to be settled in a court of law as it is behind a dumpster out back where boys used to handle their disagreements. I used to tell my mother that nobody ever died from embarrassment, but apparently I was wrong. The ABA Journal reports that there's been a veritable outbreak of children committing suicide in Ohio because they were hounded by mean kids. And that story doesn't even take into account the Tyler Clementi situation.

And when kids kill themselves, parents are increasingly turning to the courts to stand up to the bullies in a way that used to be accomplished via a flush crane-kick to the face.

It needs to stop. No, not the bullying - which is unavoidable when more than one male competes for whatever status/prestige/sex is on offer - but the tragic overreactions to the bullying, and the accompanying rush to the courthouse steps.

I say this not as an alpha-male with a caviler attitude towards the feelings of others. I say this as a former omega-male who got the crap beat out of me like I stole something from the age of 7 through the point I realized that no girl would ever mate with a guy who couldn't basically stand up for himself....

I wasn't always this big or this strong. As a kid, I was a polite, articulate little boy who did well in school. Or "Oreo fa**ot," as my friends liked to call me. I've shared some of my childhood scrapes before - and I still hate Halloween.

My best story (it's funny now, I think) involves me trying to walk a girl home from school when I was 12. She was walking, I was walking and rolling my bike, and then the bullies spotted us. As they approached, she said, "It's okay, you can run." And I did - I hopped on my bike and booked out of there. They were on foot, so I easily put some distance between us. I looked back and flipped the head bully (we'll call him "Lewis" because his name is Lewis and he's in jail now so he can't read this) the finger. But that took my eyes off the road - and the tree branch in front of me. Bad times. I tumbled, they caught up, and then five kids proceeded to twist my flimsy bike around me. They got both wheels around me, and I had to waddle the rest of the way home. I was a latchkey kid, and I couldn't reach my keys since my arms were effectively pinned to my body and I couldn't reach my pockets. I had to sit on my stoop for hours (which felt like days), until my parents came home to let me inside (and take me to the bike shop to free me).

What did I learn from all this? Well, nothing. Not really. Don't take your eyes off the road? Yeah, already pretty much aware of that one buddy, didn't need to be beaten and humiliated for the lesson to stick. People who used to get beat up in school always try to find some character-building value from their experience. But usually, it's total BS. Sure, much of my what I call "wit" was forged in the crucible of trying to come up with something biting to say because I couldn't defend myself. But I'm confident I could have learned an appropriate amount of snark without getting bikes wrapped around me.

The only thing I learned from getting beat up all the time that I couldn't have learned had I not constantly gotten my ass kicked was that it sucks to get beat up all the time. And once I grew into my body a little bit more, the beatings stopped. Or was it that my parents finally, mercifully moved me to a private school, so that instead of facing my demons I could just graduate to a better socioeconomic class where it would be harder for them to find me?

The point is, I'm happy to say, I never killed myself. Beaten and humiliated? Yes. Taking my own life? No. Even at the time, killing myself felt like an overreaction. I didn't want to kill myself; I wanted to kill them. And boy, did I have plans for making that happen. Hell... I still have a plan for what happens when Lewis gets out of jail. Because that's what men do. They defend themselves, or they make plans for defending themselves sometime in the future.

I learned that from my parents, who (to their credit) did not overreact. Did they ever take one of my tormentors to court? Hell no. They never even brought up my bullying to any of my tormentors' parents. I'll never forget the Christmas party my parents threw where Lewis showed up to my house. Later, when he was beating me in the head with a Nintendo cartridge, his parents yelled at him... and my parents yelled at me, for "starting some s**t with a bigger kid when you can't defend yourself."

What my parents knew, and what I've learned over the years, is that in life there will always be bullies - and there will always be people who are being bullied. And you are not going to be very successful in life if you don't know how to handle both roles because you'll have to play one or the other from time to time. It's the job of parents to teach their kids how to handle being bullied, being embarrassed, and being humiliated. It happens to all of us, and if it hasn't happened to you yet you are lying, just wait. You think it's not humiliating to go to law school and then get shut out from the job market? You think it's not embarrassing to get way too drunk at a firm event and end up on Above the Law? These things happen to people everyday. What are you going to do when it happens to you - run to court?

And there are a lot of people out there who say "yes, that's exactly what I'll do, I'll run to court the minute anything bad happens to me." That's your right, but it doesn't make it right. If nothing else, it sets a terrible example for your children. It tells them that at the slightest provocation you'll run to the system to help you out of trouble. So what will they do if they don't feel the system can help them? Have you given them the sense that they can and should be able to handle certain things on their own?

If we did charge every bully with the crime of being a bully, how far are we willing to take this thing? Are we going to charge every little girl who says "that backpack is sooo last year"? Are we going to charge every boss who gives overly strong handshakes and talks loudly around weak men? I don't like slippery slope arguments, but people get bullied in one form or another everyday. We can't charge all of them, so why should we charge just the ones who happen to have a victim who takes the extraordinary step of ending his or her own life? Look at the scope of bullying captured in the Ohio cases:

Two other youths at the high school committed suicide and a third died after taking an overdose of antidepressants. One was bullied for being gay, another for having a learning disability, and a third for being a boy who liked to wear pink.

Yes, parents: boys are going to make fun of the effeminate kid. They're also going to make fun of the slow kid. And I've been making fun of the professional football players who have been wearing pink all month - even though they're only wearing it to support breast cancer awareness.

In other news, boys will also torment the fat kid, the thin kid, the kid with a bad haircut, the kid with the lisp, the kid who gets all the math problems right, the kid who gets all the math problems wrong, the kid with the ugly mom, hot mom, or two moms. Children torment other children. At what point in history has this not been the case?

Not every torment is not a crime, and not every bully is a criminal. You could say that I was a victim of bullying; you could say that I was a victim of repeated physical assaults. Both are true. But you can't say that the bullies tried to make me kill myself.

We're talking about tormentors, not torturers.

Ohio School Plagued by Suicides Faces Two Lawsuits Over Bullying Response [ABA Journal]

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Bullying Shouldn't Be A Crime, No Matter How Many Kids Kill Themselves Because of It

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They had to set the Karate Kid remake in China. If they had set it in modern-day America, Daniel-san would have been mercilessly bullied by the kids from Cobra Kai, he would have killed himself, and the rest of the movie would have been a courtroom drama where Daniel's parents sought to bring the evil sensei to justice in the form of a multi-million dollar civil suit.

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Sheriff Grady Judd, of Polk County in Florida, told ABC News that he would like to arrest the parents of a teenage girl who has already been arrested and charged with aggravated stalking in the death of a 12-year-old girl.

"If I could, they would already be in jail," the sheriff said. "But I can tell you this, that we're keeping our options open."

The law enforcement official's anger at the parents of one of the teenagers accused of bullying the girl, Rebecca Sedwick, who jumped to her death from a concrete silo tower in September, comes through loud and clear. The parents of the older teenager have blamed a Facebook hack for their daughter's supposed involvement in the online bullying, which continued even after Ms. Sedwick's mother complained to school officials and helped her daughter to move to a different school.

"Yeah, that's baloney - those parents haven't cared from the very beginning," Sheriff Judd said. "When the parents don't take care of the children and it becomes criminal conduct, then it becomes my responsibility, and my deputies and I know how to take control."

Two girls, one 12, and one 14, have been arrested in connection with Rebecca's death. The sheriff's anger led him to release the photos and names of both of the girls, who have been charged as juveniles, but he is only investigating the parents of the older teenager. (The charge would be contributing to the delinquency of a minor.) The 12-year-old is reported to have told the police that she bullied Rebecca, and expressed her sorrow. Her parents, Sheriff Judd said, "are remorseful, and they see the big picture."

"They recognize that was a major malfunction," Sheriff Judd added. "They care."

The 12-year-old girl has been released to her parents' custody, while the older girl remains in the juvenile wing of the Polk County jail.

The difference in the treatment of both the girls, and their parents, is striking. It's easy to rush to judgment (especially in light of the words the older girl supposedly posted on Facebook after Rebecca's death, saying she didn't care), but after reading Emily Bazelon's "Sticks and Stones," and her reporting on the death of Phoebe Prince, I'm more aware of all that can be involved in a case like this one.

The idea, though, that the parents of an accused teenager should be charged raises questions, and the distinction based on whether they show remorse or admit blame adds to the debate. (The father of the younger girl has said that he knew very little about social media, while the parents of the accused 14-year-old insist they were monitoring her account every night.)

Should law enforcement consider arresting parents in a case of teenage bullying, and should defending a child against the accusations factor into that decision?

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Should Parents Face Arrest if Their Child Is a Bully?

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The sheriff in the case of Rebecca Sedwick, 12, who jumped to her death from a concrete silo in Florida after enduring months of bullying, has brought up the idea of arresting the parents of one of the teenage girls who has been charged.

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Anti-Bullying Video PSA - Animated Buster The Fraud Dog

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Buster the Fraud Dog's NEW anti-bullying campaign is here. Buster says we have to create a more positive footprint in our schools. To stop crime, we need more crime-Busters. Buster helps Linda Webb, America's Fraud Dog, fight fraud and they need your help too! The best way to stop fraud is educate the American Public.

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New Jersey has one the strongest anti-bullying laws on the books, known as the "Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights," which, among other things, all but forces school employees to undergo training in how to identify bullying, makes sure each bullying complaint is investigated and calls for the possible suspension or expulsion of bullies.

That's right. In New Jersey, bullies might be suspended or expelled from school.

Well, I have a better solution. Start charging anyone over the age of 12 as an adult when it comes to bullying offenses. Charge them with whatever's on the books. Stalking. Criminal harassment. Terroristic threats. Whatever is in the arsenal. And then publicize this decision to no end. Make New Jersey look like a gulag to would-be bullies and their parents.

Why? Because the threat of suspension might be one thing to a bully; the threat of finding themselves in jail might be something completely different. (By the way, and in something so obvious I shouldn't need to state it, yes, I think teenagers who commit serious crimes should be tried as adults. The 18-year-old threshold is arbitrary and too high. You're telling me you kill someone at 15, you don't get tried as an adult? Come on. That's insane.)

And before you dismiss my bullies-as-criminals idea as overkill, consider this: Criminal investigations are exactly what happens in many bullying cases when the person who is bullied ends up committing suicide. The list is too long to get into here, but feel free to check out names like Phoebe Prince, Jamey Rodemeyer, Mitchell Wilson. These are all students who committed suicide after being bullied and harassed, but it wasn't until they killed themselves that law enforcement got involved.

Is it so far-fetched to think if the threat of arrest was firmly in place to begin with, the bullies might have thought twice? So far-fetched to think the bullied students wouldn't have been pushed over the brink?

Not so long ago, I got a call from a local mom whose daughter is currently embroiled in a bullying situation. She's not happy with the way the school is dealing with the situation. And she shouldn't be. The school is attempting - based on the mother's complaints - to create a solution that's nothing more than a paste-up job. They're attempting to segregate the student in an effort to keep her away from her tormentor. (That's as far as I'll go with the story. The mom — for obvious reasons — wanted the story to get out, but didn't want her daughter's name attached.)

Anyway, without giving away the student, here's a sampling of the bullying (details changed, but not the flavor of the events): At one point, in a classroom with students and a teacher present, the bully loudly called the other student a derogatory name. In another, the bully posted a threat on Facebook.

In both cases, the school sought to deal with the issues in-house, according to the mother.

But what if this was real life, and not the Imperial Court of high school? What if I walked into my place of employment and loudly called a female co-worker a nasty name? Well, I'd probably end up fired. And if I threatened her on Facebook?

"That would be a terroristic threat. Definitely a crime," said New Jersey State Police Staff Sgt. Greg Williams, and who is also the vice president of the New Jersey Association of School Resource Officers (NJASRO).

Williams is the go-to man in the state police when it comes to bullying, and is one of the leaders in attempting to change the way schools deal with bullies.

"Schools are cultures unto themselves," Williams said. "They manage themselves, always have, and they have to. The school principal is in charge, and that person has to manage that environment like it is a city."

Williams said between the new laws and increased awareness, the bullying culture is slowly changing.

"Students and staff members being trained on how to intervene in bullying issues," Williams said. "The large majority of students are bystanders. For years, they never said anything, and now they're being trained to say something. We're trying to change the cultural environment in schools. No longer will it be accepted or tolerated."

And while all this is well and good, some good, old-fashioned, "do this and you're going to jail, kid," might also be effective.

Reactionary on my part? Well, maybe. But apparently, I'm not alone.

That mother I talked to? She eventually did take her case to the suburban police department where she lives. And you know what she claims she was told? "It's going to take a month or two before you hear back from us. We're backed up on juvenile claims."

Turn these "juvenile" claims into adult claims, and I bet within two years, they all but disappear. Not worth threatening to beat someone up in homeroom if it means you might spend a few nights in lockup.

Listen, we send our kids to school, we should have an expectation they are going to be safe. Having to deal with criminal activity should not be on the table. Bullies are criminals, and should be treated as such.

Read Jeff Edelstein every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at jedelstein@trentonian.com, facebook.com/jeffreyedelstein and twitter.com/jeffedelstein.

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Bullies should be arrested, treated as adults

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New Jersey has one the strongest anti-bullying laws on the books, known as the "Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights," which, among other things, all but forces school employees to undergo training in how to identify bullying, makes sure each bullying complaint

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Trailer: What Can We Do? Bias, Bullying and Bystanders

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See experienced educators in action in with the HRC Foundation's Welcoming Schools film, What Can We Do? Bias, Bullying, and Bystanders. The film features teachers using Welcoming Schools' lesson plans to engage students in conversations about bullying and the power of standing up for each other.

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Bullying? No Way!

Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes on a child's well-being, including impacts on mental health, substance abuse, and suicide ¹. It has no place in society.

Our 2014 Youth Honoree Jaylen Arnold agrees. Jaylen is a young, anti-bullying advocate whose firsthand experience taught him about the harmful effects of bullying. Jaylen was bullied for being different. But in his own words, Jaylen says, "I am differently abled." Jaylen has courageously dealt with numerous disorders since he was two, including Tourette Syndrome, severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Aspergers Syndrome.

Jaylen was bullied because of his differences. But rather than fighting back physically, Jaylen decided to become the voice for millions of other children who have been bullied for being different. With the mantra "Bullying No Way!" anchoring his movement, Jaylen founded Jaylens Challenge Foundation, a program that has taught over 100,000 children how to recognize bullying and how to appreciate the differences in children.

In 2014, we honored Jaylen with our Youth Award for his successful approach in spreading his anti-bullying message across the United States. Your support will help Jaylen continue his valiant efforts using personal presentations and workshops in schools around the country, ultimately saving more children from the humiliation and dangers of bullying.

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Supporting Programs Against Bullying | World of Children

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Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes on a child's well-being, including impacts on mental health, substance abuse, and suicide 1. It has no place in society. Our 2014 Youth Honoree Jaylen Arnold agrees. Jaylen is a young, anti-bullying advocate whose firsthand experience taught him about the harmful effects of bullying.

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How I Learned Not to Be Bullied! - Sunburst Visual Media Guidance Trailer

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Presenting two childrens first-person accounts of their success in learning how to deal with a bully, this program helps students understand how their behavior and attitudes affect how others treat them. Explains why bullies act the way they do and provides strategies for dealing with a bully. Grades 3-5 http://www.cerebellum.com

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No longer is bullying confined to the schoolyard where children could previously escape the pressure of bullies and retreat to a safe place called home. With the rise of the Internet come new ways for students to bully others nonstop. Bullying has become an epidemic that affects not only children, but parents, teachers and the community. According to the National Education Association, PACER Center, and StopBullying.gov:

* 1 in 7 students in grades K - 12 are either a bully or have been a victim of bullying.
* An estimated 160,000 U.S. children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students.
* 83% of girls and 79% of boys report experiencing harassment.
* Six out of 10 teenagers say they witness bullying in school once a day.
* 35% of kids have been threatened online.
* Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBTQ youth report being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.
* 57% of boys and 43% of girls reported being bullied because of religious or cultural differences.
* Bullies often go on to perpetrate violence later in life: 40% of boys identified as bullies in grades 6 through 9 had three or more arrests by age 30.
* One out of every 10 students who drop out of school does so because of repeated incidents of bullying.
* 75% of shooting incidents at schools have been linked to bullying and harassment.
* 64% of children who were bullied did not report it.
* Nearly 70% of students think schools respond poorly to bullying.
* When bystanders intervene, bullying stops within 10 seconds 57% of the time.

Bullying has serious, adverse educational effects, and students who are targets often experience extreme stress that can lead to symptoms of physical illness and a diminished ability to learn, according to the National Education Association. This translates into increased absenteeism and impaired performance, as indicated by decreased test scores.

What term is used in the California
anti-bullying laws?
Assembly Bill No. 2536 CHAPTER 419
An act to amend Sections 234.2 and 48900 of the Education Code, relating to elementary and secondary education. [Approved by Governor September 21, 2016. Filed with Secretary of State September 21, 2016.] legislative counsel' s digest AB 2536, Chau. Pupil discipline and safety: cyber sexual bullying. (1) Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil from school or the recommendation of a pupil for expulsion from school unless the school district superintendent or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed any of several specified acts, including, but not limited to, engaging in acts of bullying by means of an electronic act. This bill would include engaging in an act of cyber sexual bullying, as defined, as an act of bullying by means of an electronic act for which a pupil may be suspended or expelled from school. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Education to display current information, and periodically update information, on curricula and other resources that specifically address bias-related discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on certain actual or perceived characteristics on the California Healthy Kids Resource Center Internet Web site and other appropriate department Internet Web sites where information about discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying is posted. This bill would add cyber sexual bullying to this list of topics on which the department would be required to provide information. The bill would require the department to annually inform school districts of the information on the California Healthy Kids Resource Center Internet Web site and other appropriate department Internet Web sites where information about cyber sexual bullying is posted. The bill would encourage school districts to inform pupils regarding the available information and resources on the department's Internet Web sites regarding the dangers and consequences of cyber sexual bullying to help reduce the instances of cyber sexual bullying. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 48900 of the Education Code proposed by AB 2212 that would become operative if this bill and AB 2212 are both enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Do these laws cover cyberbullying? YES

For more information, please visit, https://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/california.html

Although no federal law directly addresses bullying, in some cases, bullying overlaps with discriminatory harassment when it is based on race, national origin, color, sex, age, disability, or religion. When bullying and harassment overlap, federally-funded schools (including colleges and universities) have an obligation to resolve the harassment. When the situation is not adequately resolved, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division may be able to help. For more information, please visit, https://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/federal/index.html

Contact us to learn how you can make a difference.

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No longer is bullying confined to the schoolyard where children could previously escape the pressure of bullies and retreat to a safe place called home. With the rise of the Internet come new ways for students to bully others nonstop. Bullying has become an epidemic that affects not only children, but parents, teachers and the community.

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Express your opinion about whether bullies should go to jail. Debate the topic with others or read about both sides of the argument.

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It's National Bullying Prevention Month, so we want to focus on some of the bullying and cyberbullying questions we've received over the past few years. We also want to share bullying stories with positive endings to inspire and to provide helpful resources and links. Because some people still believe that you can remain anonymous online while spreading vicious rumors, etc., the following cases illustrate the very real and serious trouble you can face if you get caught up in cyberbullying a classmate, friend or even someone you don't know.
Go to jail for bullying?
Although most bullying and cyberbullying cases don't result in jail or prison time, we want to remind everyone that it is indeed possible to go to jail for bullying (even when no physical contact has been made).

A number of students including a 12-year-old in Arkansas have been arrested for their hateful tweets . Some students create fake Twitter accounts, which usually can be linked to the creator of the account fairly easily. The 12-year-old's Twitter name was Freezebook and the student was arrested for his "violent, racist, homophobic and sexually explicit Twitter updates" targeting local high school students. He faced up to 90 days in jail.

Making comments online about wanting to kill certain classmates, even if it's a joke, is not something that is typically taken lightly. Those type of comments landed this 16-year-old in juvenile detention for 79 days while he had to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He was also suspended from school for the rest of the year. In a similar case, Justin Carter wrote in a chat room for gamers, "I'm real messed up in the head. I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts." He followed that with "LOL" and "JK". He was arrested for making terroristic threats and remained in jail for approximately 4 months before someone posted his bond. Under the current charges, he faces 8 years in prison.

Jacob Estes did not like his friend's ex-girlfriend dating a new guy. That new guy, Dax, began to receive threatening and harassing messages online from Jacob. Then one day the two high school boys met up at a mall. Jacob attacked Dax by punching and kicking him in the head. Dax was seriously injured. Jacob was convicted of aggravated assault and sent to prison for three years.
Criminal charges filed in the following cases
The tragic bullycide of Rehtaeh Parsons of Nova Scotia, Canada is an example of an outrageous act of cyberbullying. After being the victim of sexual assault, Rehtael then became a victim of cyberbullying after the video of the assault went viral. Shortly after Rehtaeh committed suicide, two 18-year-olds were charged with possession, production and distribution of pornography.

A Colorado high school student was charged with five counts of third-degree harassment after uploading five students' photos from Facebook to Instagram under an anonymous user ID. The student then added derogatory and sexual comments under each photo. The police tracked the student down through their IP address.

Facebook rant and threats against the president lead to a sentence to 3 years probation. Joaquin Amador Serrapio, a 20-year-old in Florida, posted on Facebook under a different name "Who wants to help me assassinate Obummer.....?" The secret service tracked down the posts to Joaquin's home and conducted a search.

Harassing celebrities on Twitter? This 21-year-old from Canada pled guilty to harassment and uttering threats and received 2 years probation for his online conduct.

Six students faced felony charges after the tragic bullycide of Phoebe Prince who was tormented both online and in person by some of her classmates. Phoebe and her family moved to the U.S. the year prior from Ireland. A group of "mean girls" called her names including Irish slut, whore and more. Phoebe was harassed at school and online. The students pled guilty to reduced charges (misdemeanors) and most were sentenced to 1-2 years of probation and 100 hours of community service.
Trials, suspensions, etc. for name-calling?
An eighth grade student in New Jersey took his case to trial for calling another student "horse" (that is all he admitted to, however he was charged for also calling her "fat" and "fat a@$").

This student wrote in a Facebook post that her AP English teacher was the "worst teacher" she'd even met. This comment resulted in the student's suspension. However, the student didn't back down. For years she challenged the school's discipline in court and eventually won her case, which led to her school record being cleared.

Also keep in mind that if you are arrested by the police, they don't need a search warrant to go through anything that you're carrying. That may include your cell phone depending on the laws in your state.

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Yes, you can be arrested and go to jail for bullying

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It's National Bullying Prevention Month, so we want to focus on some of the bullying and cyberbullying questions we've received over the past few years. We also want to share bullying stories with positive endings to inspire and to provide helpful resources and links. Because