2015 is no Jestons future, but we are definitely living in a modern era. Items like cell phones and the Internet, which makes communication hundreds of times faster than in the past, are incredibly common. A relative can easily post “Happy birthday!” on a person’s Facebook page, or a daughter can send a quick “I’m leaving” text to her mom. Unfortunately, not all of this new cyber communication is being used for good; instead, teenagers have taken up bullying over technology. Most schools do not currently have the authority to punish students for cyberbullying, which doesn’t help to correct the issue. High schools should be allowed to punish students for cyberbullying because the school has an obligation to protect its students and teach them
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In fact, bullying is already punished in schools, and cyberbullying is no different than bullying: both actions hurt other students significantly and in common ways. Cyberbullying is a real crime, even though there’s no official name for it (yet). Legally, cyberbullying can be considered a form of harassment, online impersonation, disruptive activities (CriminalDefenseLawyer.com), and disorderly conduct, the latter being defined as “conduct that disturbs the peace or endangers the morals, health, or safety of a community,” on TheFreeDictionary.com. Cyberbullying does disturb the peace and safety of students in school who fall victim to this crime, for they fear the cyberbully. These real crimes can range anywhere from a class B misdemeanor to a felony, which means jail time for the perpetrator just for saying a few harsh words on the Internet. In addition, Congress is currently working on making cyberbullying in its entirety a federal crime, according to Wake Forest Law Review. Punishing students in high school for cyberbullying could stop the cyberbullying in its tracks as well as preventing students from escalating up to serious crimes. The suspension serves to teach the perpetrator about how real consequences are, and suspension from high school seems a meager punishment compared to the future extreme of jail
In fact, bullying is already punished in schools, and cyberbullying is no different than bullying: both actions hurt other students significantly and in common ways. Cyberbullying is a real crime, even though there’s no official name for it (yet). Legally, cyberbullying can be considered a form of harassment, online impersonation, disruptive activities (CriminalDefenseLawyer.com), and disorderly conduct, the latter being defined as “conduct that disturbs the peace or endangers the morals, health, or safety of a community,” on TheFreeDictionary.com. Cyberbullying does disturb the peace and safety of students in school who fall victim to this crime, for they fear the cyberbully. These real crimes can range anywhere from a class B misdemeanor to a felony, which means jail time for the perpetrator just for saying a few harsh words on the Internet. In addition, Congress is currently working on making cyberbullying in its entirety a federal crime, according to Wake Forest Law Review. Punishing students in high school for cyberbullying could stop the cyberbullying in its tracks as well as preventing students from escalating up to serious crimes. The suspension serves to teach the perpetrator about how real consequences are, and suspension from high school seems a meager punishment compared to the future extreme of jail