The Legal-Regulatory Perspective: Balancing Rights Regarding Cyberbullying

• In Event: 66.073 - Bullying and School Violence Prevention: Scholarly Discourse on School Safety

Abstract

Online environments have promoted interconnectivity in ways once unimaginable. Unfortunately, hate speech, intimidation and harassment have made the dreamlike promise of online worlds devolve into a nightmare for students who cannot escape, even at home.

This session examines attempts to regulate cyberbullying within educational environments. It focuses on the jurisdictions of New York State and New York City. The session also reviews common law precedent to guide legal developments. Finally, related non-legal issues such as locally-created policies as well as difficulties youth have distinguishing between real and virtual environments are considered.

The session concludes that cyberbullying laws/policies are diverse in their protection and textured in their balancing of the competing interests of the aggrieved and alleged perpetrators.

Author

• Dino Sossi, Teachers College, Columbia University; NYU; Columbia SIPA