Bullying

2014 Domestic Violence and Bullying Conference

Retired Prosecutor Taylor initiated, in December 2004, a county wide conference on domestic violence and bullying prevention. Since that time, Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland has continued a county wide working group composed of educators, community activist and law enforcement meet periodically to plan and develop programs to educate school administrators, teachers, students and parents on bullying and how it can be prevented. The Victim Witness Coordinator, Claire McArdle, heads the Prosecutor’s office community outreach programs. Claire McArdle has received training and is available to teach the teachers and meet with parent organizations. The Prosecutor’s Office also offers presentations for students, teachers, school administrators and parents on Cyber Safety. For information or to request a presentation, please contact Captain Michael Emmer (609-465-1135). Bullying is aggressive behavior that is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power or strength. Typically, it is repeated over time. Bullying can take many forms, such as: Physical bullying, hitting and punching; emotional bullying, intimidation through gestures or social exclusion; and cyber bullying, sending insulting messages through email, instant messenger, or social networking web sites.

Bullying Prevention Tips

Tips for Parents	Tips for Children
Encourage your child to share problems with you, assure them this is not tattling Never tell your child to ignore bullying Praise and encourage your child – a confident child is less likely to be bullied Contact your child’s School – keep detailed accounts of bullying episodes Help your child to establish friendships	If you are bullied, tell your parents Tell a trusted teacher, or adult at school Do not retaliate or get angry Respond firmly or say nothing and walk away Develop friendships and stick up for each other Avoid unsupervised areas of school Don’t bring expensive items to school

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is important because it is the newest form of intimidation and harassment among students that is becoming increasingly evident across the nation. Evidence suggests that it has been responsible for teens committing suicide as a result of cyberbullying. Regarded as the newest form of bullying, cyberbullying is defined as when any student uses information and communication technologies (such as email, cell phone, text messaging, instant messaging, defamatory personal websites, and defamatory online personal polling websites) to harass, humiliate, intimidate and/or threaten other students on the Internet. Across the United States, teenagers are increasingly using the internet to deliver derogatory photographs and cruel and harmful messages, which can include racial, religious, cultural and sexual slurs. The striking difference between old-fashioned bullying and cyberbullying is that cyberbullying can occur both on and off school grounds, making the victims extremely vulnerable and susceptible to this new type of bullying at virtually all times of the day. Furthermore, another difference is that, with cyberbullying, the bully does not see the immediate impact that his or her bullying has on the victim. Bullies do not see the harm they have caused their victims, which make them less capable of actually feeling remorseful or empathetic to the victim for their actions. It is extremely important that both educators and law enforcement personnel are aware of the dangerous threat that cyberbullying poses to the youth of America.