This document summarizes research on state bullying laws and policies in the United States. It finds that while 46 states have bullying laws, three do not define prohibited behavior. 36 states include provisions against cyberbullying. Studies show that in 2008-2009, 28% of US students ages 12-18 reported being bullied at school and 6% reported cyberbullying. The document discusses analyses of state laws, model policies, and the impacts of bullying. It profiles victims like Megan Meier and activist Jodee Blanco.

1. BULLYING
Ella Rhea Amistad
ED606
July 26, 2012

2. ANALYSIS OF STATE BULLYING
LAWS AND POLICIES
 Bullying in schools has become widely viewed as an urgent
social, health, and education concern that has moved to the forefront
of public debate on school legislation and policy. The Columbine
High School shooting in 1999 was the first of many high-profile
incidents of violent behavior that appeared to implicate bullying as an
underlying cause (Greene & Ross, 2005). The incident ignited a
wave of new legislative action within state legislatures that aimed to
curtail bullying behavior on school campuses or to mitigate its
effects. The trend was later fueled by a number of highly visible
suicides among school-age children and adolescents that were
linked to chronic bullying, attracting national attention to the issue
(Marr & Field, 2001).
 Stuart-Cassel, V., Bell, A., Springer, J., & Office of Planning, E. (2011). Analysis of State
Bullying Laws and Policies. Office Of Planning, Evaluation And Policy Development, US
Department Of Education,

3. TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE
 Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit
Consisted of:
1. Government officials
2. Researchers
3. Policy Makers
4. Teachers
Stuart-Cassel, V., Bell, A., Springer, J., & Office of Planning, E. (2011). Analysis
of State Bullying Laws and Policies. Office Of Planning, Evaluation And
Policy Development, US Department Of Education

4. ANALYSIS OF STATE BULLYING LAWS AND POLICIES CONTINUED…
Key Findings
 Forty-six states have bullying laws and 45 of those laws direct school districts to
adopt bullying policies. However, three of the 46 states prohibit bullying without
defining the behavior that is prohibited.
 Thirty-six states include provisions in their education codes prohibiting
cyberbullying or bullying using electronic media. Thirteen states specify that
schools have jurisdiction over off-campus behavior if it creates a hostile school
environment.
 Forty-one states have created model bullying policies, 12 of which were not
mandated to do so under law. Three other states, including Hawaii, Montana,
and Michigan, also developed model policies in the absence of state bullying
legislation.
 Among the 20 school district bullying policies reviewed in this study, districts
located in states with more expansive legislation produced the most expansive
school district policies. However, several school districts in states with less
expansive laws also substantially expanded the scope and content of their
policies beyond the minimum legal expectations.

5. SCS TO THE NCVS
 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization
Survey
 In school year 2008-09, some 7,066,000 U.S. students ages
12 through 18, or 28.0 percent of all such students, reported
they were bullied at school, and about 1,521,000, or 6.0
percent, reported they were cyber-bullied anywhere (i.e., on or
off school property). Estimates are included for the following
student characteristics: student sex, race/ethnicity, grade, and
household income.
 DeVoe, J., Murphy, C., & National Center for Education Statistics, (. (2011). Student Reports of
Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results from the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National
Crime Victimization Survey. Web Tables. NCES 2011-336. National Center For Education
Statistics

6. CYBER-BULLYING VICTIM
 Megan Taylor Meier
 (November 6, 1992 –
October 17, 2006) was an
American teenager
from Missouri, who
committed suicide by
hanging three weeks before
her fourteenth birthday. Her
suicide was attributed
to cyber-bullying through
the social networking
website MySpace.

7. ACCORDING TO…

8. OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND
DELINQUENCY PREVENTION
 Key findings: (1) Bullying is a complex social and emotional
phenomenon that plays out differently on an individual level;
(2) Bullying does not directly cause truancy; (3) School
engagement protects victims from truancy and low academic
achievement; (4) When schools provide a safe learning
environment in which adults model positive behavior, they can
mitigate the negative effects of bullying; and (5) Any
interventions to address bullying or victimization should be
intentional, student-focused engagement strategies that fit the
context of the school where they are used.
 Seeley, K., Tombari, M. L., Bennett, L. J., Dunkle, J. B., & US Department of
Justice, O. (2011). Bullying in Schools: An Overview. Juvenile Justice
Bulletin. Office Of Juvenile Justice And Delinquency Prevention,

9. THE STALKING OF LAURIE SHOW

10. JODEE BLANCO
 www.jodeeblanco.com
 “The bully never
remembers but the
outcast never forgets”

11. REVIEW
 A form of aggressive behavior manifested by the use of force to
affect others. It can include
verbal harassment, physical assault or coercion and may be directed
repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds
of race, religion, gender, sexuality, or ability.
 First state to pass bullying law?
 Bullying Prevention Summit consist of?
 Survivor Turned Activist
“The Voice of America’s Bullied Students”
 WHO IS THIS PERSON?