Should Bullying Be A Crime?

            I’m sure that you’ve probably seen at least one person getting bullied online, at school, or other places before, or maybe you’ve seen it but didn’t know it was part of bullying. Some people think that bullying is not a very big issue and that it’s just a happening between friends, but there are a whole lot of serious problems behind it. More than 90% of students in Canada think that bullying is a serious problem. Also, 65% of them feel that bullying should be a crime. Bullying is happening everywhere and could happen anytime and bullies are getting away with punishments and they are not getting what they deserve today. There are many reasons why bullying should be a crime and why the bullies should get punished! 

            Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally. There are many different types of bullying. Not all bullying necessarily involve physical touch. There is physical, verbal, indirect bullying, social alienation, intimidation and cyber-bullying. Physical bullying is straight forward. It’s when physical harm is involved. Verbal bullying is name-calling, making offensive remarks, and so on, indirect is when they spread rumours or stories about someone, and social alienation is when a bully excludes someone from a group on purpose. Also, intimidation is when a bully threatens someone else and last but not least, cyber-bullying is done by using technology such as phones, computers, the internet and more. These 6 types of bullying are happening everywhere which means that a lot of people are getting harmed and affected by them. 

            Bullying began in September 2007 when a grade 9 student at a high school in Cambridge, N.S was bullied by the grade 12’s because he was wearing a pink shirt. That is the reason why “Pink Shirt Day” was formed and people started to go against bullying all around the world and helped and encouraged those who were getting hurt.  Bullies out there might not know how it feels to be bullied but it affects the people who get bullied on greatly! Many victims commit suicide, get seriously injured, or get mental problems after. It has been found by a doctor that the daily stress of getting bullied can lead into long-term damage to people’s body. People who are stressing out or threatened, usually tends to be alert for a long period of time which makes their heart speed up, their muscles tense, their blood vessels narrow, and also it makes their digestive system slow down. Tense muscles could become painful and their stomachs could start to ache at the same time. Also, stress could lead to getting weaker immune systems which means that they’d get sick easier. Bullied students mostly feel lonely, depressed, low self-esteemed, and also get physical ills like headaches, nausea, and so on. These symptoms could lead them to commit suicide because they don’t see the point of living anymore since they are depressed all the time. Many lose confidence and have problems with other people as they get older. They become more careful with others and are not able to make many good friends. 

            Even though the bullies make others have lots of problems and issues, it’s hard to believe but they do NOT get punished at all for their act. Many victims get hurt physically and mentally and also commit suicide because the bullies make their lives feel pointless. How could people who lead others to feel miserable not get what they deserve? Since technology is so developed these days, cyber-bullying is starting to increase and the internet is turning into a main problem. People gossip and talk bad things about other people on social network such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace. There isn’t a certain law that says that bullying is a crime yet, but many people (65% of respondents) are requesting for them to create a law which would punish the bullies.  Even though it’s not robbery or direct murder, bullying would be still considered as murder because it destroys other people’s lives. Many people are too scared to call for help because they think that the bullies will do something even worse to them after. Some of the positive things if bullying gets considered as a crime is that, the bullies will get what they deserve and feel the pain too by recieving punishment. Also, the victims won't be scared or afraid to tell an adult or someone for help because they'd know that the bullies won't be able to hurt them again and the victims will be able to go to school without stressing or having to be alert all the time. Lastly, if other students see what happens to bullies if they get caught or reported, the bullying issue will decrease greatly and there won't be as many people who dare to try harm others!

Bullying is part of a crime and bullies should get criminal records for them so it affects their future lives. They’ll receive a criminal record and universities and companies will know if they have done anything bad in the past. The fact that they bullied others before would be very important because they will be able to know if the person’s responsible for their actions and is able to work well with others without causing any trouble. The bullies will also feel very guilty and it’d teach them a huge lesson. Bullying is a crime because it’s the exact same case as a murder in a way because it leads people to have an awful life and even lead to commiting suicide for some. Hopefully, one day bullying will be compromised as a crime and will be able to make the bullies feel the same way as how the victims felt! 

     ~ BULLYING STOPS HERE! ~ 

   

Sources I used:

• http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/29/even-non-violent-bullying-should-be-a-crime-canadians-tell-poll/
   
• http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3487269

• http://www.theprovince.com/life/Bullying+should+crime+Canadians+poll/6229221/story.html

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35020704/ns/health-childrens_health/t/victims-bullying-face-lingering-health-issues/ 

•  http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/index.html 

•  http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00117/typesbullying.html