In recent cases, several teen suicides have been reported in Australia. A girl in NSW has taken her own life after she received an internet message from one of her friends. There are many more cases of teen suicide due to bullying.
--> LINKSCHOOL bullying has claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy who hanged himself at home after a series of violent run-ins with schoolmates.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the teenager's death, directly linked to the hated practice of bullying, has traumatised his family, school friends and an entire community.
Alex Wildman, a Year 9 student at Kadina High School at Lismore in the state's north, was found dead in his home last Friday. The tragedy has prompted the NSW Opposition to call on the Government to hold an inquiry into bullying issues.
Bullying is potentially very dangerous to school students. Schoolyard bullying often occurs when teachers aren't around and most teachers and parents would tell their children to ignore the bullying, believing it would stop eventually. Parents seem to be afraid of their children getting hurt more or getting in trouble with authorities.
Some people say we need to teach kids to learn to stand up for themselves, to prevent becoming a victim and taking a stand for other victims. Sure enough, I agree that we can't just sweep the issue under the rug, and as friends or family of a youth in school, we should teach them to be assertive and not put up with bullying.
On the other hand, if your child was in a dangerous school environment where the bullying was PHYSICAL, sometimes saying 'no' may not be the wisest decision, due to the risk of retaliation and further bullying. This makes things complicated and we're left asking 'what can we do?' 'who will make this right?' In this case, I believe the school has a duty of care to reprimand and report these bullies to law enforcement bodies.
As far as I know, harassment is a form of bullying. You can be charged for assault (hence, physical bullying involving violence). What bothers me is that nothing is being done to punish or reprimand bullies. Some are given a stern warning, but most are never met with justice because the victims don't report the bullying, or the school doesn't want to take responsibility of the issue for whatever reason.
Should school bullies be brought to justice in a legal court? If the children are in secondary/high school I think they should be legally viable for any damages and be faced with reasonable punishment like time in detention centers or community work.