Deterring Teen Bullying: Assessing the Impact of Perceived Punishment from Police, Schools, and Parents

• In Event: Special Issue for Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice “School Violence and Safety” Thematic Panel 2

Abstract

Deterrence theory asserts that one’s decision to engage in deviant behaviors can be influenced by the threat of punishment. If punishment is certain, sufficiently severe, and administered relatively swiftly, then proscribed behaviors can be dissuaded. Decades of criminological research has returned mixed results when it comes to assessing the efficacy of this thesis. At the same time, deterrence-informed policies continue to proliferate unabated. For example, many U.S. states have recently passed new laws—or updated old ones—with goal of deterring adolescent bullying by ratcheting up the potential punishment for those who abuse others. Police are becoming involved in bullying incidents more than ever before and schools across the country are implementing new policies and procedures as a result of statewide mandates to crack down on bullying (Addington, 2009; Raymond, 2010). Parents, too, are being pressured to respond to bullying or risk being prosecuted themselves (Geis & Binder, 1990; Tyler & Segady, 2000). The current paper examines the extent to which middle school students are deterred from engaging in bullying behaviors by the threat of punishment from the police, their school, or their parents. Approximately 1,000 students from two middle schools self-reported whether they thought it was likely that they would be punished by the school, by their parents, or by the police for engaging in bullying or cyberbullying. Responses to these questions were then compared to self-reported participation in bullying and cyberbullying. Results suggest that students are deterred more by the threat of punishment from their parents, and least deterred by the threat of punishment from the police. Implications for bullying prevention policies will also be discussed.

Authors

• Justin W. Patchin, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

• Sameer Hinduja, Florida Atlantic University