Students warned about legal consequences for cyber-bullying
There are legal consequences for bullying—including cyber-bullying—and this week, secondary school students will be learning more about the legal consequences bullies could face for their actions.
Albert Marshall, the project manager for the Ninth Bi-Annual Secondary Schools Anti-Bullying Conference, told CNC3’s The Morning Brew show that this year’s event will be used not only to encourage students away from bullying, but also to educate them on its effects and consequences.
“Cyber-bullying also falls under the Offences Against the Persons Act,” he said. “We are letting students know that the Police Service has a Cyber-Bullying Unit, and they can track you and find you.”
“Your computer, your laptop and your devices all have an IP address. Even if you try to hide your IP address,” he notes, “they can find you.”
Marshall points out that cyber-bullying can be relentless as the use of technology is not limited to just one location, such as a school.
As a result, he says, children are finding it harder to escape bullying, and its effects can be more damaging.
“In this current climate, the students are not getting a break. When they go home from school and go on social media, the relentless bullying is there online for all to see,” he explains.
He notes that people in the student’s neighbourhood or community can see them being bullied online, and it may become a topic of discussion among them—which further compounds that student’s misery.
According to Marshall, there are a couple of unfortunate outcomes for students subject to non-stop bullying.
“They either go into depression,” he observes, “or they build up anger and resentment. So, when they go back into school, they either try to attack the persons they think are responsible for spreading rumours about them.”
Marshall recounts what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many students engaged in cyber-bullying.
“When the students came back out to school,” he recalled, “those who were doing cyber-bullying on social media were attacked by those they had victimised.”
This year’s Secondary School Anti-Bullying Conference kicks off at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) on Wednesday, October 16.
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