New York Personal Injury News & NYC Legal Current Events

Bullying Spurs Legislation to Protect Cyber-Victims and Prevent Suicides

Posted on Oct 14, 2011

Everyone from teachers to celebrities to legislators are taking notice of bullying and cyber-bullying. With an increase in the number of reported bullying incidents and suicides resulting from increased bullying, government is looking into legislation to help protect students. Many parents of students complaining of bullying in previous generations simply told their children to "turn the other cheek", or ignore them - but times have changed and this is no longer an effective method of dealing with this growing problem for most teenagers.

A Buffalo, NY teenager, 14 year old Jamey Rodemeyer, was the victim of bullying and the result lead to the teen's suicide. Jamey had recently identified himself as gay in a video he posted in May for the "It Gets Better" project. The project was meant to promote positive messages regarding young gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexuals - and help them see hope for the future. Jamey endured years of bullying from his classmates, and took his own life on September 18^th.

Senator Jeff Klein, a democrat from the Bronx is proposing legislation to expand third-degree stalking crimes to include cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is creating fear in an individual or emotional distress through electronic communications - social media, email, and text messages for example. Secondly, the bill would include "bullycide" which is turning the crime into a second-degree manslaughter, class C felony if the individual committing third-degree stalking intentionally or recklessly causes their victim to commit suicide.

According to the National Crime Prevention Council, 43% of all teenagers and 53% of gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual teenagers are victims of bullying in the United States. A member of the Teenagers chapter of Ursuline School in New Rochelle, Annabel C. says, "Cyberbullying is a bigger problem than most people think, and many incidents go unreported."

Cyberbullying and bullying incidents have lead to suicides in many states across the country.

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