Cyberbullying: Exploring Criminal Offence Debate and Justification

This assignment presents a discussion on whether cyberbullying should be considered a criminal offense. The student's argument supports the criminalization of cyberbullying, citing examples of illegal acts like abusive emails and texts as forms of harassment, especially impacting young people. The assignment references research highlighting the prevalence of cyberbullying among youth and the need for legal consequences. It includes a counter-argument, acknowledging concerns about freedom of expression and anonymity, while emphasizing the severe outcomes of cyberbullying, including mental health issues and potential for violence. The student utilizes provided materials and academic research to build the argument, including evidence and references to support their position, contributing to a comprehensive analysis of the legal and social implications of cyberbullying.

Running head: ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Name of the Student
Name of the Organization
Author Note

1ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Cyberbullying should be considered as a criminal offence
The argument can be
supported by saying that
cyberbullying includes all
sorts of illegal acts like
sending abusive emails or
texts on Facebook (Broll &
Huey,2015).. This is purely a
form of harassment which is a
great problem for all ages who
are actually facing them.
In case of children,
cyberbullying is considered to
be an epidemic. It has been
known that the problem of
cyberbullying has become
widespread to such an extent
that eight out of ten people of
young generation have
reported that they have
become severe victims of
cyberbullying at some stages
of their lives (Álvarez-García
et al., 2016).
It have horrible outcomes
which hurts others and
sometimes it can even lead to
revenge or murders to
innocents that had nothing to
do with it in the first place
(Cornell & Limber, 2015).
Cyberbullying report 2013 says
most of the people of young
generation are severe
cyberbullying victims at some of
their life’s stages.
A number of submitters have
argued about the fact that in
case of children, criminal
offences must be applied in the
cyberbullying cases which are
the most serious.
Teenagers are always
complaining about receiving
sudden disturbing calls as
well as messages from
several people.
The Mental Health Commissions of
Australia argued that cyberbullying
problem is not a legal problem
fundamentally, but a social one.
Facebook has been found twice a
platform of social network for
excessive cyberbullying (Shariff,
2015).
It has been found that about
20% of people are experiencing
excess cyberbullying on a daily
basis.
Megan Meier is considered to
be the highest profile case of
child suicide which is linked to
bullying online.
Cyberbullying should not be a
crime. Several people love to use the
internet because they can remain
anonymous. If the government
considers cyberbullying a crime, one
of the things will definitely happen is
that people will be afraid to share their
thoughts online.

2ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
References
Álvarez-García, D., Barreiro-Collazo, A., Núñez, J. C., & Dobarro, A. (2016). Validity and
reliability of the Cyber-aggression Questionnaire for Adolescents (CYBA). The
European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context, 8(2), 69-77.
Broll, R., & Huey, L. (2015). “Just being mean to somebody isn’ta police matter”: Police
perspectives on policing cyberbullying. Journal of school violence, 14(2), 155-176.
Cornell, D., & Limber, S. P. (2015). Law and policy on the concept of bullying at
school. American Psychologist, 70(4), 333.
Shariff, S. (2015). Sexting and Cyberbullying. Cambridge University Press.