Is Cyberbullying a Crime?


Many things have changed since parents went to high school. Older generations went from passing notes, to now having group chats on IPhones. One thing that hasn’t changed is those mean girls and boys.  Unfortunately, technology now gives them a whole new platform for their actions. Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. By definition, it usually happens amongst young individuals in middle and high school. Although bullying seems to be more of an issue with youth, adults can be bullied in different forms. Bullying might actually meet the meaning of digital harassment or cyber stalking, a wrongdoing that can have legal results and include prison time.


Cyber bullying has become a huge problem for youth in the United States. The new generations of kids, otherwise known as millennials, are being brought up and raised with the web, defining their own cultural rules. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that kids ages 8 to 18 now spend an average of seven hours and thirty-eight minutes out of a day online, on the phone, or in the trance of TV or some other electronic device. According to statistics on pacer.gov's national bullying prevention center, among high school students, 15.5% are cyber bullied and 20.2% are bullied on school property. As for middle school students, 24% are cyber bullied and 45% are bullied on school property. stopbullying.gov also states that persistent bullying can lead to or worsen feelings of isolation, rejection, exclusion, and despair, as well as depression and anxiety, which can contribute to suicidal behavior. The death rate is on a rise and many are pondering whether the digital age has made the youth of the generation so heartless.

There is a wide range of outcomes of cyber bullying for a bully. These can incorporate being suspended from school or being expelled from sports groups and school clubs. Depending on the motives and thought processes of the harasser, there can be legal punishment and outcomes. According to criminaldefenselawyer.com, both criminal charges and civil lawsuits can be brought against the bullies. These charges can include, intentional infliction of emotional pain and acts of harassment. Although bullying itself isn’t a crime, if something were to happen as a direct result of bullying, one can be charged. A few charges related of cyber bullying incorporate hate crimes, impersonation, harassment and numerous infringements under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. For example, cyber bullying may be charged as criminal stalking when the behavior in question included two or more acts that would have placed a reasonable person in fear sexual assault, bodily injury, or death (or in reasonable fear that a family member would be sexually assaulted, hurt, or killed). (Va. Ann. Code § 18.2-60.3.)

While numerous states have put anti-bullying laws into effect, presently there are no national laws particularly handling the issue of cyber bullying. The few laws that are in effect fluctuate from state to state; however, all concede to what cyber bullying is and the lawful consequences related with being the harasser. Punishments for cyber bullying likewise change from state to state.

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