Students Should Not Be Prosecuted For Bullying

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STUDENTS SHOULD NOT BE PROSECUTED FOR BULLYING
The National Center for Education Statistics shows that in 2011, 37 percent of sixth-grade students reported experiencing some form of bullying CITATION Emi16 \l 1033 (Suski, 2016). Thus, bullying is still rampant in American schools, and they continue to drive many children to depression, increased drop out cases, affect their academic performance and even in some cases lead to suicide. There have been many attempts to try to institute measures to ensure that bullying stops in schools, but they have not been successful. This is despite the fact that all 50 states have some form of anti-bullying legislation. While the degree of the punitive action for bullying differs from the state, it generally shows that the country wants to ensure that bullying stops. Montana simply prohibited bullying while in Idaho students can be criminally prosecuted for bullying such that bullying in school means facing criminal penalties. Since all the states seek to ensure that they stamp out bullying, it is important to know which is the most effective strategy to stop bullying.
Criminally prosecuting students who are teenagers for bullying will continue to clog the judicial system CITATION Emi16 \l 1033 (Suski, 2016). The judicial system is already overwhelmed with a huge workload and legislation to criminalize bullying will compound the problem. Judging by the degree of bullying which happens around the united states, it is possible that criminal cases on bullying might exceed the existing cases the judicial handles for the general population. Thus, criminalizing bullying will significantly overwhelm law enforcement and judicial system. Most bullies are juveniles which means they have to be prosecuted in juvenile courts which are also overwhelmed. Thus, creating a framework where students have to be arraigned in courts will continue to clog the judicial system which is still trying to administer justice in other more important cases. Bullying cases should only be handled in schools using policies and regulations that school districts have laid out. If bullying becomes a criminal offence, more students will find themselves being sued and serving prison sentences.
Additionally, incarcerating students who are juveniles will also be counterproductive in the long run. Notwithstanding that it is very costly to incarcerate a person in the united states and this will increase the number of people who will have to go through the prison system, incarcerating students will compound to be a worse problem. While incarceration is not a deterrent to crime, it will subject the inmates to a harsh environment which might further make them hardcore criminals CITATION Jes16 \l 1033 (Lahey, 2016). In the correctional facilities where students will have to serve their terms they will be interacting and living with murderers, rapists, arsonists among other hardcore criminals and eventually they may follow in their footsteps. By the time they come out of the prison, they may have grown a thick skin and graduated to more violent crimes which will translate to higher recidivism rates. Additionally, at the moment the united states have very poor inmate reentry programs, and these students who may be incarcerated for bullying may never retrace their steps to leading successful lives. They will be treated and judged as ex-inmates and with that comes possible mistreatment and denial of opportunities to advance oneself. These are some of the reasons which can lead to higher recidivism rates. In the long term, due to more students who have gone through the prison system and got exposed to the hardcore life in them will continue pouring to society. They will also have criminal records and very low employable skills which will make it hard for them to get a job because they missed school when in prison, society might experience higher crime rates.
It is also important to note that bullies are mostly students who need help because they have emotional and behavioral problems CITATION Deb18 \l 1033 (Temkin, 2018). These issues require intervention and help and not prosecution or incarceration which might compound their problems. Most of the bullies might come from needy households and or homes which are characterized by domestic violence, and the...