The Prevention Of Cyberbullying In The United States

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25% of teen-aged middle and high school students are said to have been victims of cyberbullying at some point in their lifetime. Cyberbullying can happen to anyone, anywhere and its effects are long lasting. 804,000 worldwide suicides are committed annually due to long-lasting cyberbullying . And more than 32% of U.S. high school students were said to be frequently depressed. Despite all of this, only 20 of U.S states have passed laws against cyberbullying. Some may argue that if one were to shut off his electronic device he would no longer be a victim to the bullying, but devices must not be neglected completely in case an emergency were to occur. Cyberbullies must be held accountable for their actions. According to the www.megan meier foundation.org,…show more content…
Victimization of young people online has received an increasing level of scrutiny, particularly after a series of suicides caused from cyberbullying. “Social media use is hugely common among teenagers,” said Michele Hamm, a researcher in pediatrics at the University of Alberta,” but the health effects of cyberbullying on social media sites is largely unknown. Regular, face-to-face bullying during the teen years may double the risk of depression in adulthood, and bullying's effects can be as bad or worse than child abuse, studies show.” In other words, when young people are being cyberbullied they will have worse effects than if they were abused by their…show more content…
Cyberbullying could be with us forever. There are more concerns to bullying in today’s world. Kid’s are now getting cell phones, tablets, and computers. Their parents could never see what they are saying on those devices. If cyberbullying reaches a certain point it can lead to death. In certain states that is federal crime. Laws criminalizing cyberbullying fall into two categories: some modernize existing criminal laws, especially harassment or stalking laws, to encompass cyberbullying. Others start from scratch in crafting new criminal laws aimed at cyberbullying. Both paths are fraught with First Amendment perils and pitfalls, which can be illustrated by examining selected legislative efforts. In the first category. A Missouri teen‘s 2006 suicide was the signal event that galvanized national attention around the problem of cyberbullying and led to calls for legal reforms, and the lessons gleaned from Missouri‘s experience can be generalized to the many other states that have followed its legislative path. According to the Megan Meier Foundation it states that a Missouri teen Megan Meier took her own life just a month short of her fourteenth birthday in 2006, in response to social media bullying by Lori Drew. Meier took her own life. A jury convicted Drew of, in essence, ―defrauding MySpace by misrepresenting her identity and motive to open an account. The jury found that Drew

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