The shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 marked a dramatic shift in the way that we view the social environment of our schools. Following this tragedy, a concerted effort by experts from the medical, education, and school security fields began to focus more intently on school bullying and the substantial impact that this behavior has on our students. Both the National Institute of Child Heath and Human Development and the Washington State Medical Association have since announced that bullying is a serious health risk to children.
Since Columbine, we have been inundated with anecdotes and news accounts of children so tormented by their peers at school that their anger, despair, or frustration has spilled over into a violent reaction directed against the school, the staff, or other students. We have heard tragic stories of students taking their own lives after being continuously taunted by other students. These dramatic examples, however, may distract us from the ubiquitous pattern of subtle bullying that occurs every day in schools on a level that often passes “under the radar.” It is difficult for adults in authority to always detect the bullying that is the most common. In the halls, in the bathrooms, in the locker rooms, and in the lunch commons many students are subjected to the day-in, day-out ritual of teasing, racial taunts, harassment, threats, robberies, or assaults. Although children often are uncomfortable to report such treatment, they nevertheless suffer stress and anxiety from this type of persistent harassment at school.
This issue has been at the center of school debates, policy seminars, and legislation as our community reexamines what type of social behavior we will tolerate in our schools and what is unacceptable. Yet often there is confusion by what is meant by “bullying.” Sometimes, the question is simply, “Didn’t the Legislature make that a crime a few years ago?”
What is Bullying?
Bullying can be a nebulous term that connotes a broad spectrum of behavior. This ambiguity has, in itself, caused some confusion. Bullying evokes a certain image or notion of conduct to each of us, but do our images reflect the same types of behavior?
Webster’s says that bullying means to coerce by threats or to intimidate. In its 2003 report on Washington schools, the Washington State Parent Teacher Association (in conjunction with the Safe Schools Coalition) stated that “harassment, intimidation, and bullying are considered synonyms for the same phenomenon” and refer to “a particular type of aggression: deliberate physical, verbal, or psychological behavior that happens repeatedly over time and is intended to harm or disturb.” According to the Washington State Medical Association and the Washington State Attorney General, bullying means simply when one child or a group of children repeatedly picks on another child.
RCW 28A.300.285(2)*defines harassment, intimidation, or bullying as any intentional written, verbal, or physical act that (a) physically harms a student or damages the student’s property; or (b) has the effect of substantially interfering with a student’s education; or (c) is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating or threatening educational environment; or (d) has the effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the school.
The definitions vary somewhat, but convey the same basic message: school bullying involves a person abusing other students, thereby disrupting the learning environment. The behavior may be persistent taunting. It may involve threats or intimidation. It may involve taking property from the victim accompanied by force or threats of force. It may involve a physical assault or assaults with a weapon. A victim may be repeatedly tormented and/or abused over time, or a victim may be physically harmed in a single attack.
Is Bullying a Crime?
Simply put, the acts that constitute some forms of bullying can be violations of the law: e.g., assault, threats or intimidation, or robbery or extortion (i.e., taking property by force or threats of force). However, there is no crime called “bullying,” and engaging in a pattern of taunting, harassment, or teasing without an actual threat of violence is not a crime.
Many people are confused because they remember a great flurry of activity in Olympia a few years back regarding Washington’s “bullying law.” This is true, but the final product of the Legislature’s efforts does not, in and of itself, prohibit or punish bullying. The bullying law contained in RCW 28A.300.285*is actually a directive to Washington school districts to “adopt or amend if necessary a policy, within the scope of its authority that prohibits the harassment, intimidation, or bullying of any student.” The law also directed the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Olympia to create a model bullying prevention policy and training materials for each district to access and implement.
In RCW 28A.600.480*, the bullying law also prohibits “reprisal, retaliation, or false accusation against a victim, witness, or one with reliable information about an act of harassment, intimidation, or bullying.” Subsection (2) of that provision encourages employees, students, or volunteers to report such incidents of bullying, but does not require it. Thus, bullying in all its forms likely runs contrary to a school district’s disciplinary policies, but only the acts that constitute a crime are actually illegal. When the acts committed against students or staff do constitute criminal behavior, however, schools should report this to law enforcement.
Why get law enforcement and the juvenile justice system involved? For a variety of reasons. Public schools are institutions of learning first and foremost, and have a constitutional obligation to educate children within a geographical district absent extraordinary circumstances. Although it sometimes becomes a necessary tangential function, schools are not really equipped to implement or enforce sanctions for criminal behavior, and do not have the same level of coercive authority exercised by diversion committees or the courts to carry out such sanctions. The sanctions available to the school rely frequently on parental cooperation and involvement to be effective. Furthermore, a school may be substantially limited in what it can do. Students may have issues or disabilities that prevent the school from implementing effective sanctions. Schools do not have victim-oriented provisions to protect targets of bullying, such as no-contact orders or restitution tools and the power to enforce them. School officials often find themselves having to allow a bullying student and the victim of the bullying to remain in the same school, especially in smaller districts with a single high school or middle school and no other practical options for educating both students within budget constraints.
The Youth Service System, on the other hand, is an alternative to school sanctions with many more opportunities for youth. Mechanisms throughout the process can help a youth keep the offense from becoming a part of his or her criminal history (such as diversions, deferred dispositions, drug court, etc.) Numerous special courts and disposition schemes have been organized to help youth who suffer from substance abuse, mental health diagnoses, or a combination of the two. The courts have ART (aggression replacement therapy), MST (multi-systemic therapy) and FFT (family functional therapy) tools to work with youth who are bullying others, and to help them and their families address these issues. The Youth Service System can impose no-contact orders and enforce restitution for victims of bullying and provide victims support and advice through the prosecutor’s Victim Assistance Unit. Finally, the court’s power is not rendered ineffectual simply because parents are uncooperative or resistant to efforts to hold the youth accountable.
What Should I do If I Suspect Bullying?
Any parent who suspects that a child is being threatened, assaulted, intimidated, or otherwise bullied should report this immediately to school officials. The school should have the district/school’s bullying policy available for parental review upon request. Teachers, staff, and/or administrators should all be familiar with the district/school’s bullying policy and any reports of bullying should be handled pursuant to the policy. For the reasons stated above, the School Violence Program strongly urges that law enforcement be contacted if the bullying behavior constitutes a criminal offense.
Bullying is not a harmless, childhood experience. Left unaddressed, bullying results in a traumatic experience for the victim(s) and a disrupted school environment in which student learning is seriously impaired. Where bullying is ignored, a school’s “climate”—one of the concerns in threat assessment—deteriorates. Worse, the anxiety and stress that bullied children experience frequently leads to despair, depression, and desperate choices. Intervening early in the behavior, on the other hand, benefits not only the victim but the bullying child as well, as we take the steps to change the bully’s behavior as early as possible.
Resources (All external links)
Please feel free to contact the School Violence Program with questions or comments through the coordinating Deputy Prosecutor information listed below:
LEAH TAGUBA
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
School Violence Program Coordinator
1211 E. Alder Street
Seattle, Washington 98122
206-296-8859
FAX: 206-296-8869
Leah.Taguba@kingcounty.gov
* External Link
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Dated: January 18, 2008
