Should all Types of Bullying be Illegal in all Fifty States?

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Forty-nine states have some sort of law against bullying. Only eighteen of them include online bullying, and twelve include off school behavior. Montana is the only state with no statewide law that specifically discriminates against bullying. The first anti-bullying state was Georgia, in 1999, and in 2011, New Jersey enforced the toughest bullying law of that time. “…the State will grade each school based on bullying standards, policies, and incidents.” Teachers were told to immediately correct or address any type of bullying seen and report it to the administrators. There are about nineteen states that prohibit bullying in school, but list no subcategories of protection. Only twelve include the discrimination of sexual orientation, only seven forbid schools to instruct LGBT rights, and two states that forbid local school districts from having anti-bullying policies that enumerate protected classes of students. Because of the anonymity, teens and preteens do not realize the extent of the things they are saying since it is behind a screen. So should ALL types of bullying be illegal in ALL fifty states? Most would say yes, others might not be educated enough to make that decision. Some important facts you should know before you can make your decision are: what is bullying, what are the different types of bullying, and which way the victim of bullying is affected. A few essays may not be enough to persuade fifty states into changing the law, but these essays will give others further knowledge about bullying. Then maybe together we can think of another way to handle the nonsense if the law isn’t stopping it from happening.

There are three types of people involved in the mix: the bully, the targets, and sometimes the bystander. The ...

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...prosecution, as well as school sanctions. In addition, bullies, both students and teachers, not to mention schools, school districts, and parents of bullies have been sued for damages” (Bullying Statistics). Lastly educating a family about how to help decrease this bullying as well. Parents can help stop this by showing their kid alternative behaviors or actions to getting their point across. Not joining in on what your friends are doing, being your own person, and realizing that every one is created differently and you should not act nasty towards them because they are not exactly like you. If we can do all these things, bullying will lessen over time. Then hopefully citizens will realize that although it is morally wrong to bully and there are severe results that can come from it, it will still be a problem and it’s up to us to try and stop this from happening.

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