Op-Ed: In Memory

The September 2010 suicide of Tyler Clementi, a college freshman whose homosexual encounters were secretly live-streamed by his tormentors, once again thrust bullying into the national spotlight. Despite the arraignment of the culprits on chargers of cyber-voyeurism, however, Americans still tend to view bullying as something that occurs amongst children between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. on school grounds. Wrong. Bullying is a crime that targets homosexual and heterosexual males and females of all ages, and takes place on campus, off campus, and through the internet. We must refocus the perception of bullying from elementary squabble to a seriously pervasive crime that requires immediate legislative action.

Since Phoebe Prince was driven to suicide by classmates, the Massachusetts State Legislature enacted laws requiring teachers to report all observed harassment among students to the principal; a failure in the school’s reporting mechanism was a primary factor in Prince’s suicide. Without doubt, the implementation of this law identifies bullying as an issue of political significance. However, resulting legislation has failed to adequately address the root cause of many teen suicides, and instead, only dictates the repercussions for parties found guilty of violating interpersonal conduct standards on taxpayer funded property.

As it turns out, the students that compelled Phoebe to take her own life harassed her beyond school walls and even posted derogatory comments on her Facebook memorial page. This fact reveals yet another fold of torment among youth and an issue in much need of attention– cyberbullying. In this media driven age, social networking sites have emerged as enablers of peer maltreatment and federal, state, and local legislation is critical if we hope to prevent the deaths of countless teens like Prince.

Of late, lawmaking bodies have been commended for their response to the recent media frenzy surrounding harassment-induced teen suicides. This praise is unwarranted, however, because the majority of legislation fails to establish a plan that works toward tangible goals and an identifiable solution. The fact remains that the most potentially game-changing bills have failed to progress beyond congressional introduction and die, like so many teens, in the committee chambers to which they are assigned.

Although 45 states now have anti-bullying laws on record, such standards only hold schools responsible for actions that take place on federally funded property and few political bodies have addressed bullying off of school grounds or in artificial realms. To date, only 10 states have approved statutes to combat cyberbullying, and even those in place have had little impact to deter harassment (see Tyler Clementi, Phoebe Prince). Undeniably, these facts point to the need for an improved system that aims to prevent bullying before it takes place.

Do I have the answer? No, if I did then political players in Washington would learn to run at the sight of me. It is clear, however, that current laws are ineffective and every day a potentially transformational bill stalls in Congress is a day that fourteen teens end their lives and countless others craft plans to be carried out at a later date.

Suicide is, in fact, the fifth leading cause of death among 5 to 14 year-olds. More than 1.3% of all U.S. deaths in 2005 were self-inflicted, a statistic that affirms such fatalities as a pandemic in the eyes of the World Health Organization. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) even noted a single year increase in domestic suicides among teenagers of 8% in its 2007 report, a significant portion of which were likely caused by bullying. Why is it, then, with this shocking evidence that peer harassment is not a national issue of substantial proportion in the United States?

You can help prevent teen suicides by writing your senator and upholding this issue as one of the utmost importance before the national spotlight fades and another death is required to revive it. Avoid the complacency exhibited by your political representatives and act; this is a pandemic in the true sense of the word.