CS/SB 548: Bullying
GENERAL BILL by Criminal Justice ; Simmons ; (CO-INTRODUCERS) Soto
Bullying; Providing that a person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly harasses or cyberbullies another person commits the offense of bullying, etc.
Effective Date: 10/1/2014
Last Action: 3/7/2014 Senate – Now in Appropriations -SJ 207
Location: In committee/council (AP)
Bill Text: Web Page | PDF
By Senator Simmons
10-00810-14 2014548__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to bullying; creating s. 784.049,
3 F.S.; defining terms; providing that a person who
4 willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly harasses or
5 cyberbullies another person commits the offense of
6 bullying; providing that a person who willfully,
7 maliciously, and repeatedly harasses or cyberbullies
8 another person and makes a credible threat to that
9 person commits the offense of aggravated bullying;
10 providing criminal penalties; providing an effective
11 date.
12
Schools that don’t combat bullying may lose funding
By Kriston Capps | Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010
In a move a federal education official described as unprecedented, the Obama administration is announcing today that schools that do not prevent bullying may lose federal funds.
Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Department of Education may strip federal funds from schools that do not enforce gender-discrimination laws. The move signals a shift in the way the government approaches bullying: as a form of harassment, subject to the nation’s civil-rights statutes, rather than an unfortunate aspect of growing up.
The Department of Education will tell schools, from elementary to university level, that they must establish plans to tackle discrimination in the wake of a bullying incident — or face losing federal aid, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Young quotes Kristen Amundson, former chairwoman of the Fairfax County, Virginia, school board, who said, “It’s certainly unprecedented as far as I can remember.”
Picking up on the It Gets Better Project launched by columnist and Seattle Stranger editor Dan Savage, celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Tim Gunn as well as (less famous but still noteworthy) Google employees recorded messages to encourage queer youth to stick out the bullying they face — bullying that has in recent days led to a rash of suicides among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth. President Obama recorded one, too.
The new Obama administration posture could be described as the It Will Get Better or Else Project. This strategy is the stick to match the carrot. If schools to continue to ignore intimidation, harassment and violence among students, the schools may themselves face the consequences.
Posted by Maria Mangicaro
Bullying Prevention Advocate
mangicaro829@aol.com
Published on Sep 18, 2013
Arizona social media attorney Ruth Carter responds to the suicide of Rebecca Ann Sedwick. This 12 year-old Florida girl was allegedly cyberbullied by up to 15 people for a year before taking her life in September 2013. More information about this situation is available here: http://wapo.st/19UMEZv.
If you are being cyberbullied, cut off the bullies access to you by changing your phone number and deleting your social media accounts. If you’re being bullied at school and the school isn’t protecting you against them, consider changing schools or if you’re old enough drop out and get your GED instead.
Ruth Carter is the author of the Amazon best-seller The Legal Side of Blogging: How not to get Sued, Fired, Arrested, or Killed: http://amzn.to/13U57QM.
Disclaimer: This video does not constitute legal advice. Watching this video does not create an attorney-client relationship with any viewer. If you need personalized legal advice, hire an attorney.
Posted by Maria Mangicaro
Bullying Prevention Advocate
mangicaro829@aol.com
Published on Mar 9, 2012
LegalEase TV brings you Cyber Bullying and the most recent incident in Florida where a Boy was cleared of murder charges claiming “Florida Stand your Ground Law”. cyber bullying on http://www.legaleasetv.com
Uploaded on Oct 6, 2010
Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Ken Rothweiler was a guest of Philadelphia Fox 29 News at 10. During his visit, Rothweiler commented on cyberbullying, specifically concerning the recent case at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Published on Apr 23, 2012
Attorney Sam Goldberg says that going to an attorney when your child is being cyberbullied will get this serious issue resolved before it gets out of control.
Online bullying is an increasingly prevalent problem, and there is an increasingly limited ability to battle it.2 While there is some disagreement concerning how many children are affected by cyberbullying, most scholars agree that even the lowest numbers are high and are expected to continue rising due to greater access to the Internet and children’s rising dependence on the Internet for communication.3 Exhaustive studies suggest that cyberbullying can be the direct cause of depression, social disorders, scarring psychological disorders, and ultimately, suicide.4
The paparazzi went too far earlier this week, bullying Kristen Stewart over her break-up with Robert Pattinson. Upon returning to her dusty blue pick-up truck in a North Hollywood parking lot, K-stew was greeted by giggling paparazzi. The kicker here, is that someone, perhaps the looming paps, wrote I heart Rob in the dust on the hood of her car. Upon leaving the parking lot, Kristen did fire back with some angry remarks of her own, but this obviously came after some very cruel mocking from the paparazzi. To make matters worse, Us Weekly reports that Kristen previously shared the blue pickup with her ex-boyfriend. Kudos to Kristen, who overall, has maintained her poise in the face of overwhelming media attention over the last few years, especially in regards to her relationship with R-Pattz. The pair, who allegedly split for good back in May, both remain busy. Rob has reportedly moved on, and has since been linked to various ladies, including Riley Keough. Kristen is staying busy, and is currently working on two new movies, Camp X-Ray and Sils Maria, which will also star Chloe Mortez. So what do you guys think about this cruel and unnecessary prank played on Kristen Stewart? Hasn’t she already been through enough? Give us your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. We here at ClevverTV are obviously totally team Kristen Stewart. For more entertainment news as it breaks, keep it locked right here by subscribing to our channel on YouTube. I’m Joslyn Davis — and we’ll catch ya later.
Just hours after confronting one Fox 5 reporter in Manhattan, Alec Baldwin loaded up his car and unloaded on yet another Fox 5 reporter Friday afternoon.
Baldwin told Linda Schmidt to “get the [expletive] out of here” after confronting her and demanding an apology. He falsely accused her of almost hitting his wife with a microphone.
“I asked you a question: You want to apologize to her?” he yelled. He then told a uniformed cop that he wanted to press charges against “that blonde.”
Earlier in the day, the actor walked up to Fox 5 reporter Robert Moses and warned him to leave the sidewalk in front of his building (CLICK FOR VIDEO).
Baldwin later issued a statement on the website of MSNBC, the network that carries his weekly talk show, apologizing to his fans and colleagues. MSNBC pulled Baldwin’s show, “Up Late,” from its schedule for two weeks.
“I did not intend to hurt or offend anyone with my choice of words, but clearly I have — and for that I am deeply sorry,” Baldwin said in the statement. “Words are important. I understand that, and will choose mine with great care going forward. What I said and did this week, as I was trying to protect my family, was offensive and unacceptable. Behavior like this undermines hard-fought rights that I vigorously support.”
Baldwin was likely referring to the expletives he yelled at a photographer this week. He did not specifically reference the incidents with Fox 5’s Moses and Schmidt.
Moses and Schmidt have been covering the trial of Canadian actress Genevieve Sabourin, who was accused and then convicted this week of stalking Baldwin and his wife. Baldwin and the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said it was a case of an acquaintance with a movie star turning into harassment. Sabourin claimed it was a romance that fell apart.
A judge sentenced Sabourin to 195 days in jail for stalking the Baldwins. That sentence came on top a 30-day contempt of court sentence he handed down Wednesday because she kept disrupting the court proceedings with outbursts.
These tough questions have emerged alongside increased awareness of the detrimental effects of bullying. While almost all states have passed new, or strengthened existing, anti-bullying laws, many districts, in the face of rising family legal action concerning bullying, remain unclear regarding legally compliant policies and best practices.
EducationWorld offers the following primer for school leaders concerned about civil liability for bullying and harassment. Schools are encouraged to consult their districts’ legal counsel for information and advice regarding applicable state and federal laws.
Bullying vs. harassment
First, it’s important to note the difference between bullying and legally defined harassment. While we can all agree that any form of bullying is undesirable in a school setting, harassment occurs only when students are bullied based on personal characteristics that trigger special federal protection—namely gender, race or disability. Bullying that constitutes harassment is specifically prohibited by federal law.
It is therefore harassment-relatedstudent bullying that when left unchecked by school officials, poses the greatest legal risk. In the Leadership Insider article “School Liability for Bullying & Harassment,” article authors Seamus Boyce and Andrew Manna explain that if schools face the following five circumstances, they are legally liable for peer harassment:
The bullied student is a member of a “protected class” defined under federal civil rights laws—these classes include gender, race and disability. (While his/her sexual orientation would not technically place a student in a protected class, note that in some court cases, students who were bullied for “nonconformity to gender stereotypes” have successfully claimed sex-based harassment.)
The peer harassment was based on the students’ membership in a protected class (e.g., a student was repeatedly mocked for having a developmental disability).
The harassment was severe, pervasive and offensive (this standard takes into account both severity and frequency; if severe, even a one-time incident can qualify).
The school (an official with authority to act) had knowledge of the harassment.
The school was deliberately indifferent to the harassment.
At 5-foot-10 and 220 pounds, gym teacher John Webster is not a slight figure. But the former college football player claims a 50-pound, 6-year-old student physically assaulted him and sent him into therapy.
The New York Post reports that Webster fractured his ankle and injured his knee, all at the hands of 4-foot-2 Rodrigo Carpio. Walker says he now has to wear a brace on his right leg.
“It’s sort of like an angel-devil sort of thing,” Webster, 27, said of Rodrigo. The boy “looks like an angel, but then, all of a sudden, that halo turns into horns. It’s been a nightmare. It’s embarrassing. It’s humiliating.”
And there’s reportedly more than just the incident with Webster. Rodrigo, a first-grader at PS 330 in Queens, also allegedly kicked the school principal and pinched several other individuals, including a school security officer.
Webster told the Post that the confrontation started when he was escorting several students to the school cafeteria.
“I tried to hold his wrists, and he began biting me,” Webster said. “I took him to the principal’s office, and he kicked me in the ankle, and one kick landed right on my knee. I felt a pop.”
Lawyer Andrew Siben, who is representing Webster, described Rodrigo as a “tiny terror.”
“It’s sad that teachers like Mr. Webster are not offered protection from someone who can endanger other teachers and students,” Siben told the paper.
However, Rodrigo’s parents say the allegations are ridiculous.
“The lawsuit is totally absurd,” said the boy’s father, Jorge Carpio, 44. “How could my little boy do so much damage?”
“This is a terrible thing to say [about] a child,” said his mom, Josefa Marcia.
The purpose of this site is to promote and encourage positive and ethical change in our schools through bullying prevention efforts.
The moderator of this site is educated as a Certified Mediator and legal assistant. Moderation strives to maintain this site based on The Six Pillars of Character. "Trustworthiness. Respect. Responsibility. Fairness. Caring. Citizenship. The Six Pillars of Character are ethical values to guide our choices. The standards of conduct that arise out of those values constitute the ground rules of ethics, and therefore of ethical decision-making."
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is used for non-profit educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Any copyright owner who objects to the use of their copyrighted material should send a comment to the moderator of this site, Maria Mangicaro at: mangicaro829@aol.com
DISCLAIMER: The information contained herein is for informational and chronicling purposes and is not legal advice or a substitute for legal counsel.
Anti-Bullying Laws 