Bullying

Bullying takes many forms and it destroys the bullied person’s mood, hence making him or her feel belittled and humiliated. On the same note, extensive bulling can be dehumanizing and therefore there is a good reason to control it both legally and socially (Piehl, 2009). Children in school should be discouraged from bullying each other and those involved in this social vice should be disciplined accordingly. If bullying turns criminal, then a legal process that defines bullying charges should be put in place to shield the interests of the majority and the human dignity of the affected.

In the case of Phoebe Prince death case, the defendant’s charges were not well defined and some did not reflect the actual cause of the said death. Statutory rape was more general and to be specific, it did not have any bearing to the case. On the other hand, stalking and civil rights violation were fair charges but they had less meaning in the eyes of the law and it could not attract a fair punishment compared to the damage that was meted from the bullying. On the same hand, the two were very general and they did not adequately reflect the seriousness of the offence. To avoid and to make bullying a serious offence, a legal statute that defines and elaborates the elements of bullying should be put in place.

By having a statute specific to bullying, it will help the legal officers to distinguish between general harassment and bullying criminal actions that are likely to dehumanise and at worse cause the death of the victim (Rosenthal, 2008). One of the elements is to make bullying a criminal offence that could attract major fines or imprisonment not exceeding seven years in jail. The charges of the above mentioned case were not fair and on the better part they were general enough to be mistaken for simple harassment.