Bullying: Cyberbullying In The United States

On a warm July day Zoe, who had just finished the seventh grade at Kenowa Hills, was sitting looking at her computer screen. A bully has taken to the internet to torment one more person. This person being Zoe. Zoe had struggled with minor depression before this from the bullying but nothing that could not be overcome with some time. This time though, it had become too much. Zoe decided on the July day to take her life. The post that Zoe’s mother Rebecca took a critical eye to was one that said: “Tag a bitch you don’t like” And Zoe’s name was tagged all over it by multiple people. Even after Zoe had committed suicide people continued to post on her Facebook account saying “good ur gone.” (Sidorwicz). Words hurt. A young girl’s life is now gone …show more content…
Michigan only recently passed the law which allows officials to punish those who are harassing people online. Massachusetts was one of the first states to take a stand toward the bullying. They added a law in response to the issue in 2010. (Massachusetts Bullying) In Massachusetts a survey was conducted showing that the anti-bullying laws that have been put into place show a lower rate of bullying. Massachusetts passed a law making the act of cyberbullying illegal, making it punishable up to jail time if a repeated issue. The law allows families to prosecute against those who have caused issues (Massachusetts Bullying). This law is helping bullies know that their actions have consequences. Bullies now know their actions will now come at a price. Massachusetts is one of 44 states that has passed a law making the acts of cyberbullying illegal and a criminal …show more content…
When Michigan did not have this law, they had quite an issue with the cyberbullying. In a study conducted across the United States ranked Michigan the worst in the country for bullying. Data was collected regarding the number of cyberbullying attempt and the number of suicide attempts for the study (Brenzing). Brenzing writes that, Michigan had a ranking of 3rd for the number of students bullied on school property. This means that the number of students bullied on school property is almost the highest in all 50 states. This shows that Michigan schools were not doing anything about the issue if we are third for the number of students bullied on school property. The study also showed they were 5th for students bullied online (Brenzing). So many students are being bullied online and nothing is being done to prevent or solve the issue. The ranking of 5th continues to show that the schools were not able to handle the issue. Michigan recently added the law, which will finally allow the punishments to be taken out of the hands of the