Cyber bullying should be a criminal offense

Resolved: Cyber bullying should be a criminal offense. On balance, I stand in opposition to this resolution. Cyberbullying is defined by Dictionary.com as the act of harassing someone online by sending or posting mean messages, usually anonymously. As for a criminal offense it is defined as an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act.” Now for my first contention: today we continue to push for matters such as cyberbullying to be handled by an already under resourced police department rather than by programs such as the Dignity Act for All Students. This Act was implemented in July 1st of 2010. My first sub point is that the Dignity Act requires school districts to report problems with bullying to the State Educational department and furthermore, this program mandates that schools adopt programs to educate people and counteract the problem with bullying. Secondly, Justin Patchin, co-director of the national cyberbullying research center for the past 10 years, and professor at the University of Wisconsin says “There are better alternatives than criminalizing cyberbullies.” Patchin says that schools and families should become more involved with the lives of students. Patchin also says “We know from decades of research that teens are not deterred by threats of formal punishment. They are more likely to be deterred by relationships they care about within the school, and what their friends think.” In other words, Finally, if schools really strive to teach that bullying is wrong and if students learn that bullying will be punished with in the schools, then the need to make cyberbullying a crime will be deterred by the programs being taught in the school. Now for my second contention, in the process of being bullied one must learn to understand that bullies are often victims in other contexts. Sub point A: according to the Berkman center for Society and Internet at Harvard University Danah Boyd and John Palfrey say “Bullies aren’t the source of the problem, they are often a symptom.” Many times bullies have had some form of power taken away from them and therefore lash out in situations where they have control. Boyd and Palfrey also say that “We must have empathy for those who hurt and for those who are being hurt. Recognizing this is crucial to stopping the cycle of bullying.” This leads us to our next sub point. Yes, cyber bullying is awful and it can create problems in an individual, however we have to understand and help those who bully. Each individual responds to difficulties in a different way, and just because someone is being hurt doesn’t mean we ignore the person who is hurting; therefore we should help both of the people. This can be done by enforcing more group focused activities, support groups, and counseling in the school this can help to end the cycle of bullying. Now for my third contention. It is the fact that feelings are inconsistent and vary from individual to individual. First, how can the government measure something that is inconsistent and then deliver a sentence based on the varying emotions of a hormonal teenager. Hanni Flakhoury, staff lawyer at the Electronic Freedom Foundation, says “If you hurt a 15 year olds feelings really bad, do you go to jail for that?” That is a valid question to ask. In the process of cyberbullying no one is physically hurt, their feelings just are. Grant it, there are cases in which an individual commits suicide. However, can cyberbullying be the only cause for the suicide victim of online harassment? Maybe, most likely not. For example, in the Clementi’s case Tyler Clementi committed suicide because his sexual orientations were displayed online by his roommate Dharun Ravi. However, can we really say that Ravi was responsible for the death of Clementi? In this specific case, along with many others, one comes to the specific problem of morality. Grant it, what Ravi did was not correct, however what about the morality of Clementi? Our final sub points are: Why would he commit suicide if what he was doing was morally correct? Why would he commit suicide if he wasn’t ashamed of what he was doing? All these points lead to this: that though Ravi acted in an EXTREMELY unjust way we must understand that Ravi was perhaps not the only reason for Clementi’s suicide. Cyberbullying should not be a criminal offense firstly because the United States of America already has enough criminal offenses and is already under resourced, secondly because we often forget to sympathize with the bully, and thirdly because feelings are inconsistent and immeasurable. Works Cited: Cali, Jeanine . "Frequent Reference Question: How Many Federal Laws Are There?." Library of Congress. N.p., 12 Mar 2013. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. <http://blogs.loc.gov...>. Week Staff, . " Tyler Clementi case: Is Dharun Ravi's jail sentence too lenient?." THE WEEK. FELIX DENNIS., 21 May 2012. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. <http://theweek.com...>. NIGAM, HEMANSHU (HEMU) . "Cyberbullying: What It Is and What to Do About It." Abc News. 7 Oct 2011: n. page. Print. <http://abcnews.go.com...>. Chu, Elbert. "Should Cyberbullying Be a Crime?." School Book. WNYC, 27 Apr 2012. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. <http://www.wnyc.org...>. Bartlett, Tom. "Sympathy for the Bully." Percolator. N.p., 19 Mar 2012. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. <http://chronicle.com...>. Boyd, Danah, and John Palfrey. "What You Must Know to Help Combat Youth Bullying, Meanness, and Cruelty." the Born This Way Foundation & the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. (2012): all. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu...>. Butler, Paul. "Not Every Tragedy Should Lead to Prison."Room For Debate. New York Times, 3 Dec 2011. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com...>. United States, Texas. Hotline. Abuse in America. Austin, Texas: Center for Disease Control , 2010. Print. <http://www.thehotline.org...>. NCPC <http://www.ncpc.org...> Billitteri, Thomas. "Should bullying resulting in suicide be a criminal offense?." The CQ Researcher blog. Blogger, 10 Dec 2012. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. Chapman, Diana. "LAPD: Cyberbullying NOT a Crime."City Watch. N.p., 4 January 2013. Web. 29 Sep. 2013. <http://www.citywatchla.com...>.