SCHOOL BULLYING

Legal Protections for 

Vulnerable Youth Need to 

Be More Fully Assessed

Statement of Linda M. Calbom, Western Regional 

Director

Testimony 

Before the Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor and Pensions, 

U.S. Senate

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 1:15 p.m. CDT

Friday, June 8, 2012

GAO-12-785T

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
 

Page 1 GAO-12-785T 

Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi, and Members of the 

Committee:

I am pleased to be here today to discuss the results of the work that you 

and other members of the committee requested on school bullying. It is 

estimated that millions of American youths have been bullied by their 

peers, including physical, verbal, and electronic attacks.1

• What is known about the prevalence of school bullying and its effects 

on victims?

Some of these 

incidents, including some where bullying has been linked by the media to 

teen suicide, have received widespread attention, resulting in heightened 

awareness of bullying, as well as a wide range of actions at the federal, 

state, and local levels to address the behavior. Some of these incidents 

involved bullying based on personal characteristics, including race, 

religion, or sexual orientation, and have also raised questions about the 

role and availability of federal and state civil rights protections. Given the 

dynamic and rapidly changing nature of these efforts, governments at all 

levels, as well as the public, face a growing need for information about 

possible legal and practical approaches to combating bullying. My 

statement is based on our report released yesterday, which addresses 

the following objectives:

• What approaches are selected states and local school districts taking 

to combat school bullying?

• What legal options do the federal and selected state governments 

have in place when bullying leads to allegations of discrimination?

• How are key federal agencies coordinating their efforts to combat 

school bullying?

To address these objectives, we reviewed research on the prevalence 

and effects on victims; analyzed state bullying laws, and school district 

bullying policies; interviewed officials from the Departments of Education 

(Education), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Justice, and a 

 

1

For the purposes of this testimony, the term “bullying” is used to reflect behavior that is 

intended to inflict harm, repeated over time, and characterized by an imbalance of power 

between the perpetrator(s) and victim(s). Some sources refer to similar behavior as 

“harassment,” and may use the terms interchangeably. 

 
 

Page 2 GAO-12-785T 

nongeneralizable sample of eight states and six school districts; and 

reviewed selected relevant federal and state civil rights laws. More 

information on our scope and methodology is available in the issued 

report. 2

Although definitions vary, including definitions used by federal agencies, 

many experts generally agree that bullying involves intent to cause harm, 

accompanied by repetition, and an imbalance of power. Notably, bullying 

is distinct from general conflict or aggression, which can occur absent an 

imbalance of power or repetition. For example, a single fight between two 

youths of roughly equal power is a form of aggression, but may not be 

bullying. When bullying occurs, it may take many forms, including 

physical harm, such as hitting, shoving, or locking someone inside a 

school locker; verbal name calling, taunts, or threats; relational attacks, 

such as spreading rumors or isolating victims from their peers; and the 

use of computers or cell phones to convey harmful words or images, also 

referred to as cyberbullying. Bullying often occurs without apparent 

provocation and may be based on the victim’s personal characteristics. 

For example, youth may be bullied based on the way they look, dress, 

speak, or act. To address bullying, federal, state, and local governments 

have a range of efforts under way, including studies of the prevalence of 

bullying, laws to prevent and address bullying, and antidiscrimination laws 

that, for certain stated classes of students, can be used in some 

circumstances to address discrimination resulting from bullying.

We conducted our work on which this testimony is based from 

April 2011 through May 2012 in accordance with generally accepted 

government auditing standards.

In summary, with regard to the prevalence and effects of bullying, our 

findings suggest that reported levels of bullying and related effects are 

significant. Research shows that bullying can have detrimental outcomes 

for victims, including adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes. 

According to four nationally representative surveys conducted from 2005 

to 2009, an estimated 20 to 28 percent of youth, primarily middle- and 

high- school-aged youths, reported they had been bullied during the 

survey periods. However, differences in definitions and questions posed 

to youth respondents make it difficult to discern trends and affected 

groups. For example, the surveys did not collect demographic information 

 

2

GAO, School Bullying: Extent of Legal Protections for Vulnerable Groups Needs to Be 

More Fully Assessed, GAO-12-349 (Washington, D.C.: May 2012).
 

Page 3 GAO-12-785T 

by sexual orientation or gender identity. Education and HHS are partially 

addressing the issue of inconsistent definitions by collaborating with other 

federal departments and subject matter experts to develop a uniform 

definition of bullying that can be used for research purposes. However, 

gaps in knowledge about the extent of bullying of youths in key 

demographic groups remain.

Selected states and school districts are taking various approaches to 

reducing bullying. The bullying laws in the eight states that we reviewed 

vary in who is covered and the requirements placed on state agencies 

and school districts. For example, six of the states cover a mix of different 

demographic groups, referred to as protected classes, such as race and 

sex or gender, in their bullying laws, while two states do not include any 

protected classes. With respect to school districts, each of the six districts 

we studied adopted policies that, among other things, prohibit bullying 

and describe the potential consequences for engaging in the behavior. 

Also, school district officials told us that they developed approaches to 

prevent and respond to bullying. For example, several school officials 

said they implemented a prevention-oriented framework to promote 

positive school cultures. Both state and local officials expressed concerns 

about various issues, including how best to address incidents that occur 

outside of school.

We also found that while federal and state civil rights laws may offer 

some protections against bullying in certain circumstances, vulnerable 

groups may not always be covered. Federal civil rights laws can be used 

to provide protections against bullying in certain circumstances, but some 

vulnerable groups are not covered and therefore have no recourse at the 

federal level. For example, federal agencies lack jurisdiction under civil 

rights statutes to pursue discrimination cases based solely on 

socioeconomic status or sexual orientation. Some state civil rights laws 

provide protections to victims of bullying that go beyond federal law, but 

federal complainants whose cases are dismissed for lack of jurisdiction 

are not always informed by Education about the possibility of pursuing 

claims at the state level.

Finally, regarding federal coordination efforts to combat bullying, we 

found that a variety of efforts are under way, but that a full assessment of 

legal remedies has not been completed. Specifically, Education, HHS, 

and Justice have established coordinated efforts to carry out research 

and disseminate information on bullying. For example, The Federal 

Partners in Bullying Prevention Steering Committee serves as a forum for 

federal agencies to develop and share information with each other and 
 

Page 4 GAO-12-785T 

the public, and http://www.stopbullying.gov consolidates the content of 

different federal sites into one location to provide free materials for the 

public. In addition to these efforts, Education has issued information 

about how federal civil rights laws can be used to address bullying of 

protected classes of youths and is conducting a comprehensive study of 

state bullying laws and how selected school districts are implementing 

them. However, no similar information is being gathered on state civil 

rights laws and procedures that could be helpful in assessing the 

adequacy of legal protections for victims of school bullying.

In conclusion, we found that the nature and extent of protections available 

to students who are bullied depend on the laws and policies where they 

live or go to school. Education and Justice have taken important steps in

assessing how federal civil rights laws can be applied and Education has 

completed a study of state bullying laws, but neither agency has 

assessed state civil rights laws and procedures as they may relate to 

bullying. More information about state civil rights laws and procedures is a 

key missing link that is needed by administration officials and decision 

makers alike, to assess the extent of legal protections available to 

students who have been bullied. Furthermore, while multiple efforts to 

collect information about bullying have been under way for several years, 

the prevalence of bullying of youths in certain vulnerable demographic 

groups is not known. A greater effort by key federal agencies to develop 

more information about the extent to which a broader range of 

demographic groups are subject to bullying and bullying-related 

discrimination would better inform federal efforts to prevent and remedy 

bullying. This information, together with an assessment of federal and 

state legal protections, could also aid policymakers in determining 

whether additional actions are needed to protect vulnerable groups of 

youths who are most often the target of school bullying.

To allow for a more comprehensive assessment of federal and state 

efforts to address bullying, our report includes recommendations to 

Education to compile information about state civil rights laws and 

procedures that relate to bullying and to develop procedures to routinely 

inform individuals who file complaints of discrimination stemming from 

bullying about the potential availability of legal options under their state’s 

anti-discrimination laws; and to Education, HHS, and Justice to develop 

information about bullied demographic groups in their surveys of youth 

and to use this information and other information from studies of state 

bullying and civil rights laws to assess the extent to which legal 

protections against bullying exist for vulnerable demographic groups.
 

Page 5 GAO-12-785T 

Education and HHS generally agreed with our recommendations, 

although Education took issue with our recommendation that it compile 

information about state civil rights laws and procedures as they pertain to 

bullying. In response, we clarified that recommendation to address some 

of their concerns, but we continue to believe that a one-time compilation 

of state civil rights laws and procedures would be beneficial, and provide 

a basis, along with other information, for analyzing the overall legal 

protections that are available for vulnerable demographic groups. A more 

complete discussion of agency comments is provided in the report.

Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi, and Members of the 

Committee, this concludes my prepared remarks. I will be happy to 

answer any questions you may have.

For future contacts regarding this statement, please contact Linda M. 

Calbom at (206) 287-4809 or calboml@gao.gov. Contact points for our 

Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on 

the last page of this statement. Bryon Gordon (Assistant Director),

Ramona L. Burton (Analyst-in-Charge), Susannah Compton, Alex 

Galuten, Avani Locke, Ashley McCall, Sheila McCoy, Jean McSween, 

Mimi Nguyen, Karen O’Conor, Kate O’Dea, Michael Pahr, Rebecca Rose, 

Regina Santucci, Matthew Saradjian, Ronni Schwartz, and John Townes 

made significant contributions to the report on which this statement is 

based.

(131184)
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