Criminalization of Cyberbullying

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As the effects of cyber bullying are becoming a growing problem, the criminalization of cyber bullying is needed to prevent its harmful repercussions to the United States and serve as a deterrent. Cyber bullying has become the 21st century version of bullying; it has extended beyond the classroom and onto a virtual world that seems to have no real-life effects. The world is now able to bully someone in the comfort of his or her own home, at any given point, with the use of technology. However, Cyber bullying still proves to have lasting impacts on the victim and it is now time for the offender to feel the ramifications of their actions.

Studies indicate that cyber bullying incidents have quadrupled in past five years. Cyber bullying has become an immense issue recently. Every time someone turns on the news there is another bullying, or a suicide related to bullying, incident being reported. Many celebrities are trying to send out a message to their followers saying that bullying is not right and should not be tolerated. Some observers of today’s youth and media culture believe that today’s media environment could be desensitizing young people to the hurtful effects of their actions. The expansion of communication technologies is widening the way bully’s can torture their victims. Cyber bullies will continue to be a threat to today’s youth unless preventative measures are taken against them. Technology won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, so it is important to find a way to put an end to cyber-bullies.
Traditional bullying each school day impacts approximately half of U.S. students. Cyber bullying is technology powered and as technology expands it is getting harder and harder to see and prevent bullying from happeni...

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...ll see. If laws were created to combat cyber bullying, potential cyber bullies would likely think twice about sending hate.
There are numerous challenges in the fight of putting a stop to cyber bullying, but many people do not seem to understand the circumstances and the harm done to the victims. It is important to criminalize cyber bullying because it is hurtful to the victims, and sometimes may even lead to the victim committing suicide. Some people think that cyber bullying is not comparable to perhaps someone committing murder. Technically, it is the same thing because the cyber bully would be responsible for the death of the victim if the victim decides to take his or her own life due to the situation and the bully should be held accountable for what has happened. Law enforcement officers have the ability to prevent cyber bullying from occurring so frequently.

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