P013. Bullying in Spain: the lack on prevention and intervention in the educational context

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

Bullying, a phenomenon involving the repeated psychological, verbal or physical abuse among schoolchildren, generates serious consequences for the victims. In recent years, physical and/or psychological actions have been combined and intensified with the use of new technologies. Considering the above, the objective of this study is to examine bullying at school in Spain in more recent years, analysing its incidence, main manifestations, the effects on the victims and the support measures offered to them, the response towards the aggressors, as well as the initiatives aimed to prevent this phenomenon. One of the difficulties found trying to analyse the true extent of bullying at school is that many of the children involved are under 14 years of age, so they are not prosecuted by the criminal justice system, given that in Spain children under that age are not considered criminally responsible. Nevertheless, data from the State Prosecutor's Office shows that, in general, there is a significant lack on prevention and intervention in the educational context. Furthermore, in most cases, these behaviours are resolved through extrajudicial means, and only in those cases of an exceptionally serious nature is the Penal Code applied, particularly the offences against moral integrity included in article 173.1.

Authors

• Ivana Larrosa Ibañez, Universidad San Jorge (Zaragoza, Spain) / Ministry of Justice

• Isabel Germán, University of the Basque Country. Basque Institute of Criminology