Search

This defamation case between a youth tennis player, through his parents, against the parent of another young tennis player spotlights the intricate balance between safeguarding participants' rights and ensuring a harassment-free sporting environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools in England are required to have an anti-bullying policy. A revised 42-item scoring scheme was used to report a content analysis of 200 anti-bullying policies. On average, school policies had 61% of items. Chi-square comparisons found an increase in policy coverage from 2008 to 2022, notably for mentioning cyber bullying and many types of bias-based bullying; but comparisons are limited by different sampling procedures. Despite good coverage in some areas, fewer than 25% of policies mentioned responsibilities of other school staff, suggested how to help the pupil(s) doing the bullying to change their behaviour, gave advice to parents about bullying, or discussed specific powers to deal with cyberbullying and out-of school bullying. For 131 schools, correlations of self-report scores on bullying victimisation and perpetration with the overall policy score were negative but very small. Ways to improve school policy coverage, and the impact they may have, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the government gave the charity that I lead -- the Youth Endowment Fund -- £200m of taxpayers' hard-earned money. Why? Because they were worried about knife crime. They wanted to know what works and what doesn't to prevent this violence, and so, they asked us to start summarising the best available evidence. You can find it online for yourself here: www.youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To characterize the relationship between implementation of an antibullying law and bullying rates among high school youth. School staff (administrators, counselors, and teachers) from public high schools in Maine completed a survey assessing: (1) the frequency with which they implemented 17 components of their district's antibullying policy as mandated by state law; and (2) confidence in implementing the law. Their responses were linked to data on bullying victimization among high school respondents to the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, which created a population-based dataset of 84 high schools with 29,818 student responses. Students in schools where administrators (adjusted odds ratio = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.89, 0.97) and counselors (adjusted odds ratio = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.92) reported implementing more mandated components of the law experienced notable reductions in the odds of bullying, controlling for student-level characteristics (sex, race, grade) and for school-level bullying rates assessed prior to the passage of the law. With respect to specific implementation components, bullying was most consistently reduced in schools where staff reported increased referrals for counseling and other supports for targets of bullying and in schools where counselors and teachers were interviewed as part of bullying investigations. Students in schools where teachers reported increased confidence in implementing the antibullying law also had reduced odds of bullying. These data provide some of the first evidence that the efficacy of a state's antibullying law depends in part on the extent to which school personnel implement the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Workplace bullying is a social and organizational problem within the health care organizations systems, it has several adverse effects and is closely associated with nurses' work burnout. Bullying and burnout have the potential to negatively influence staff nurses both at their work and in their everyday lives. Aim The current study aimed to explore staff nurses' perception toward workplace bullying and its relation to their work burnout at Beni Suef University Hospital. Research design A descriptive correlational design was used in the study. Setting The study was conducted at Beni Suef University Hospital. Sample A Convenience sample (n=250) of staff nurses who accepted to participate in the study. Tools Two tools were utilized to collect data: 1) the workplace bullying scale; 2) the work burnout scale. Results The results of the present study showed that the majority (80.99%) of the staff nurses were highly perceived of workplace bullying, and the majority (86.75%) of them were victims of work-related bullying, with more than two −third (69.6%) of them perceived that they sometimes had exposed to an unmanageable workload and more than half (52.4%) of them sometimes had exposed to excessive monitoring of their work. Also, the results indicated that the majority (72.56%) of staff nurses had highly perceived work burnout, with the 20.61±4.18 majority (76.41%) of them were victims of work-related- burnout, with more than two −third (62.8%) of them perceived that they always feel used up at the end of the workday and there was a highly statistically significant positive correlation between all domains of workplace bullying and work burnout. Conclusion The study findings concluded that staff nurses highly perceived of work place bullying and work burnout and there was a statistically highly significant positive correlation between staff nurses perception of work place bullying and their work burnout. Recommendations The administrators and supervisors should enhance healthy work environment which involved with justice, fairness, developing positive work culture that requires effective communication and respect between staff and others, develop internal formal procedure for reporting and investigating bullying and develop training programs for workplace bullying concept and management and encourage nurses to report incidents of bullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any institutional policy will only be a paper tiger unless the intended recipients of the policy know and understand it. Student anti-bullying policies at universities in Australia have been researched to determine the quality and usability of the content, but research is lacking in how students understand and use these policies. Bullying amongst students has been identified globally as an issue at universities; however, little has been done to determine students' knowledge and experience of bullying and the related policies and services universities provide. The aim of this paper is to fill that gap in knowledge, with the hope that by understanding a student's perspective, identified blocks to reporting may be eliminated. This study surveyed 297 Australian university students about their knowledge of their university's anti-bullying policies existence and location, their personal and witnessed experienced of bullying, how they handled it, and their knowledge and thoughts on how bullying information is presented to students at their university. The results found students lacked knowledge about anti-bullying policies and practices in their university. The results also highlighted assumptions students make about what their university offers in regard to policies and services. This paper indicates that universities need to publicise their policies and better educate their students on bullying and their related anti-bullying policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying is a phenomenon that results in psychological and physical effects, or even suicides and school shootings. Many states have enacted anti‐bullying laws to prevent bullying, but we still see the same tragedies that come from it. A town in New York jails parents for their child's bullying and has seen improvement. However, the goal of this amendment is to deter, not to punish. To protect the welfare and safety of our state's children, this Note proposes that New York amend its parental liability law by adopting the parental liability laws of Oregon, Tennessee, and the notification law of Utah. Key points for the family court community: Victims of bullying are 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than those who are not bullied.40.5% of girls and 27.6% of boys have exhibited symptoms of PTSD at the time of their bullying trauma.Every day, 160,000 students will not attend school due to fear of being bullied.Approximately 71% of school shooters were victims of bullying and 87% of them have left evidence at the scene suggesting they were bullied.There is no current law in New York State that addresses these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School bullying is a matter of global concern. Paradoxically, it becomes complicated, when the expansion of a longer period of universal free education shows the commitment to safeguard children's right to education. This paper interrogates the ways in which school, as a significant site of socialisation, can safeguard children's rights, and function as a safe haven, free from bullying. Stemming from a children's rights perspective, this paper employs the Cypriot educational context as an illustrative case to demonstrate in what ways the problem of school bullying can be re‐conceptualised in the lens of human rights, and to address the challenges that emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This method allows estimation of the impacts of a referral on a felony arrest to a diversion program on case outcomes and subsequent contact with the justice system. The authors find that a felony referral to a diversion program substantially increases case length, measured as days between case arraignment and disposition, by close to one year. The City and County of San Francisco operates a network of diversion programs whereby referred individuals may have their criminal cases adjudicated outside of the formal criminal justice system. [Extracted from the article]

The CDC reports that the association between bullying and suicides among teenagers has generated "concern, even panic," but policies aimed at combatting bullying have received little attention from researchers. Using a difference‐in‐differences estimation strategy, we find that state‐level anti‐bullying laws (ABLs) reduce bullying victimization, depression, and suicidal ideation, with the largest estimated effects for female teenagers and teenagers who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning. In addition, ABLs are associated with a 13 to 16 percent reduction in the suicide rate of female 14‐ through 18‐year‐olds. Event‐study analyses and falsification tests provide evidence that these estimates can be interpreted causally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School bullying is a pervasive social problem that has been linked to severe mental health consequences for students. Though 50 states have adopted anti-bullying policies, research into the effectiveness of these policies has suggested that many such policies are not effective in reducing rates of bullying in schools. This paper aims to identify strategies for policy makers and social workers to reduce bullying in schools. This paper focuses on the Iowa Safe Schools Law as a case study for better understanding the strengths and limitations of statewide anti-bullying laws. Consistent with general evaluations of statewide anti-bullying laws, comparisons of rates of bullying before and after the passage of the Iowa Safe Schools Law reveal no reductions in rates of bullying. Through an examination of the extant academic and popular literature, this analysis identifies several critiques of the policy, namely that such policies infringe upon freedom of expression and that such policies focus on individual behavior modification rather than on changing underlying social norms that contribute to hostile environments. This paper presents several recommendations for advancing the prevention of bullying. Future research should identify underlying factors that render these policies ineffective and common factors of policies that have been found to be more effective. Bullying prevention policies should include funding allocated to these efforts and components that have been empirically linked to reductions in bullying. Social workers hold a key role in advocating for funding for this policy and offering institutional and individual-level interventions to reduce bullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students in the present educational landscape are experiencing issues of bullying and harassment at an alarming level. A primary duty of a school administrator is to ensure the safety of all students from the repercussions of unattended to bullying and harassment issues, which has become a significant challenge with the increase in remote education and internet access of youths around the globe. This article will first discuss key federal anti-bullying and harassment laws to provide a background of the nation's present stance on the issue, along with a narrowed examination of key anti-bullying and harassment laws in Indiana. Recommendations for school administrators to prevent bullying and harassment cases and to remediate school culture challenges will follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I estimate whether bullying leads to worse academic outcomes for bullied students, exploiting state‐year differences in anti‐bullying laws, and within‐law heterogeneity that provide variation in the probability of bullying victimization. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, I show that bullying increases the probability of skipping classes and dropping out of high school, and it decreases grade point average by up to 5%. Heterogeneity analysis shows that physical bullying imposes a greater burden on males, though females are relatively more sensitive to nonphysical bullying. These negative effects persist into adulthood as high school bullying decreases college performance and college graduation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hazing rituals in sport commonly involve coercive sexual acts. However, sexually violent hazing is rarely taken seriously by law enforcement and the criminal justice system in Canada. This paper examines sexually violent hazing in Canadian sport within the broader context of Canadian criminal sexual assault law. Using unobtrusive methods, the paper examines 12 cases of sexually violent hazing in Canadian sport to reveal what it can entail, who it commonly involves, and how sport leagues and the Canadian legal system often fail to adequately respond. Through an abductive analysis of this unobtrusive data, and drawing on theoretical work on masculinities and Erving Goffman's concept of total institutions, the paper argues that sexually violent hazing occurs in sport not purely for the purposes of teambuilding, as it is commonly understood, but also to establish and reaffirm hierarchies of masculinity within the total institution of sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how school districts in Indiana can adopt effective anti-bullying measures. Topics discussed include the advantages of proactive bullying strategies, the need for schools to have proper tools to identify and proactively prevent bullying, the Indiana General Assembly's efforts to prevent bullying in schools, why the anti-bullying law in the state failed to effectively address the issue and a look at effective anti-bullying measures used in other states.

Bullying in the health care environment historically has been tolerated and, in many cases, expected. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 has provided the necessary legislation to stimulate a move toward addressing the bullying culture within New Zealand hospitals. This article takes a reflective look at how speaking up about bullying, although difficult, is important in order to change workplace culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying has long been an adolescent issue. With the elderly population ever-growing, however, so too does the incidence of elder bullying. Bullying behaviors often occur in small group settings with members who interact regularly, such as in schools. Senior living communities also fit this description. Bullies in senior communities may engage in verbal and even physical abuse; in the worst cases, bullying can be fatal. Instances of bullying among older adults are likely to increase infrequency as this population grows. This Note evaluates current federal and state laws that bullying victims might use to seek redress. It argues that current state laws should be amended to include seniors by aligning laws with research-based definitions of bullying. This Note also recommends providing a private right of action and implementing research-based programming in communal living centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Bias-based bullying is associated with negative outcomes for youth, but its contextual predictors are largely unknown. Voter referenda that target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups may be 1 contextual factor contributing to homophobic bullying. METHODS: Data come from 14 consecutive waves (2001-2014) of cross-sectional surveys of students participating in the California Healthy Kids Survey (N = 4 977 557). Student responses were aggregated to the school level (n = 5121). Using a quasi-experimental design, we compared rates of homophobic bullying before and after Proposition 8, a voter referendum that restricted marriage to heterosexuals in November 2008. RESULTS: Interrupted time series analyses confirmed that the academic year 2008-2009, during which Proposition 8 was passed, served as a turning point in homophobic bullying. The rate of homophobic bullying increased (blinear = 1.15; P < .001) and accelerated (bquadratic = 0.08; P < .001) in the period before Proposition 8. After Proposition 8, homophobic bullying gradually decreased (blinear = 20.28; P < .05). Specificity analyses showed that these trends were not observed among students who reported that they were bullied because of their race and/or ethnicity, religion, or gender but not because of their sexual orientation. Furthermore, the presence of a protective factor specific to school contexts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth (gay-straight alliances) was associated with a smaller increase in homophobic bullying pre--Proposition 8. CONCLUSIONS: This research provides some of the first empirical evidence that public campaigns that promote stigma may confer risk for bias-based bullying among youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has demonstrated that employees' perceptions of abusive supervision are positively associated with the enactment of bullying behaviors. However, an investigation of the factors influencing employees' decision to bully others at work has yet to be completed. In this study, we propose that the relationship between perceptions of abusive supervision and the enactment of bullying behaviors is mediated by state self-regulation, and that active coping moderates the relationship between state self-regulation and bullying. Further, we analyze how the situational context (e.g., positive or negative) affects employees' levels of self-regulatory resource depletion and ultimately, the extent to which they engage in bullying behaviors. A moderated mediation analysis using time-separated data (N = 136) provided support for our hypotheses, suggesting that employees' state self-regulation helps explain why abusive supervision is associated with bullying and that active coping helps to reduce bullying behaviors. Further, the results suggest that negative environments are associated with more bullying. Contributions, practical implications, and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are at heightened risk for bullying and other forms of in-school victimization. Anti-bullying laws are a potential policy mechanism for addressing this issue, yet there has been little investigation of the impact of such policies for this population using generalizable samples or quasi-experimental designs. The current study explores whether the presence of state anti-bullying laws predicts lower likelihood of bullying victimization, fear-based absenteeism, in-school threats or injury with a weapon, and suicidality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning high school students in the United States. Based on Youth Risk Behavior Survey data across 22 states from 2005-2015, coupled with data about the presence of general and enumerated anti-bullying laws that include sexual orientation as a protected class, this study analyzes this topic using a quasi-experimental design (linear difference-in-difference models). The results indicate that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning youth (particularly boys aged 15 or younger) experienced less bullying victimization in states with general or enumerated anti-bullying laws. There was modest evidence of a reduction in fear-based absenteeism among boys in states with such laws. However, there was little evidence of a relationship between such policies and in-school threats or injuries or suicidality. Further, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning girls’ likelihood of victimization, absenteeism, or suicidality was generally not related to the presence of anti-bullying laws. The results suggest that general and enumerated anti-bullying laws may help reduce bullying victimization for gay, bisexual, and questioning boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent legislative attempts to curb violence in schools have been school-based dating violence prevention laws. In the previous decade, there was an increase in legislation designed to prevent bullying in schools; these laws now exist in 50 states. However, most anti-bullying laws provide an expansive definition of bullying that includes any type of peer aggression, harassment, or teen dating violence (TDV). Having several different state and federal laws aimed at curtailing multiple forms of aggression may produce confusion about appropriate intervention and disciplinary responses, requiring school districts to develop parallel sets of policies, educational curricula, intervention approaches, and reporting requirements for overlapping behaviors that can be simultaneously peer aggression, bullying, harassment, and TDV. We conducted a systematic search of applicable laws and systematically coded those we identified for relevant content (i.e., definitions, covered locales, protected groups, and personnel, procedural, preventive, and disclosure elements). Anti-bullying laws were typically more detailed than dating violence laws. TDV laws were more likely to target TDV and control intimate behavior and to provide for education about healthy relationships. Both types of laws often mandated trainings; specified reportable behaviors; discussed sanctions, recommendations, and interventions; and mentioned counseling, specially trained staff persons, or designated specialists. Both anti-bullying and TDV laws also sometimes directed reporting of aggregate incident rates and impacts of prevention efforts. Neither type of law tended to specify school and community resources or prevention approaches. Results inform discussion of the merits of different approaches to school-based violence prevention laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School bullying has strong empirical links to a broad range of adverse psychosocial outcomes including depression, eating disorders, early abuse of alcohol and drugs, self-injury, poor academic performance, and low self-esteem. Bullying has been implicated in infamous school shootings and numerous youth suicides. This work extends prior studies examining four categories of bullying participation, employing standardized scales measuring psychopathy and empathy, to better understand bullying participation roles and social cognition. The study includes a gender-based examination. Findings indicate males and females engage and experience bullying differently. The present retrospective self-report descriptive study consists of a large university sample (n = 2113), an underutilized population in the bullying literature, reflecting on their bullying experiences in high school. Findings contribute to current knowledge about the interrelationship between bullying participation, empathy and psychopathy. Results show significant differences across participation categories and by gender. Specific results emphasize deficits in primary psychopathy among both male and female victims. Victims of bullying may lack a healthy/self-preservation baseline of primary psychopathy. Intervention and prevention efforts geared towards bullies remain important, but a more holistic approach inclusive of victims, facilitating normal/healthy narcissism, self-esteem building, and greater capacity to deal with their social environment is likely to be most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School children are usually encouraged to tell an adult whether they are being bullied. Despite this encouragement, a significant percentage of bullied students do not disclose victimization. Previous research has often failed to include this group of hidden victims, thereby limiting the available knowledge about victimization disclosure. This study aimed to investigate the process of disclosing bullying victimization from the victim’s point of view. Interviews with Swedish youth who had been or currently were victims of bullying in school were carried out and analyzed with grounded theory methods using two-step coding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on anti-bullying laws and teacher liability in Kentucky. Topics discussed include prevention of unwarranted punishment in school and colleges; mandatory reporting statute which requires school employees to report the commission of a felony offense against a student committed by another student while on school property; and protecting students from retaliation.

Adolescent bullying is linked to numerous adverse psychosocial effects that can persist into adulthood. In response to this problem, in 2007 Iowa adopted an antibullying statute requiring all school districts to adopt an antibullying policy. From 2013-2014, 47 semistructured interviews were conducted with school and district administrators in Iowa. Administrators identified many policy implementation challenges including limited funding and staff, and difficulties selecting prevention programs, applying the law’s bullying definition in investigations, and understanding the school’s jurisdiction for policy enforcement. Contextual barriers to implementation (e.g., media portrayals of bullying and parental attitudes) also emerged. This is the first study to use the interactive systems framework to examine antibullying law implementation, highlighting the importance of coordination among research translators, supportive organizations, and on-the-ground implementers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, it is estimated that one-third of bullying occurs outside of educational settings, including sport and recreation spaces (Shannon, 2013). Beyond important academic literature on abuse in athlete-coach relationships, however, there is little research on peer-to-peer bullying in sport. This is a noticeable absence considering assertions that there is a high potential for bullying to occur (Kerr, Jewett, MacPherson, & Stirling, 2016; Shannon, 2013). Moreover, bullying has been connected to children and youth drop-out rates (Fraser, 2015). Our interest in this project was to determine how Canadian national sport organizations (NSOs) address peer-to-peer bullying through policy. Although antibullying strategies that rely solely on policy are ineffective (Short, 2013), clearly communicated and implemented policies remain important (Mountjoy et al., 2016; Olweus & Limber, 2010; Walton, 2004). Thus, we focused our analysis on policy documents available to the public on NSO websites. A total of 118 documents were retrieved, consisting of various codes of conduct and harassment policies. Of these 118 policy documents, only three had been produced that addressed peer-to-peer bullying specifically. In the remaining 115 documents, bullying was mentioned just 19 times and only defined in five documents. The absence of specific policy and policy statement addressing peer-to-peer bullying is important to highlight. Well-written and implemented policies are needed in order to help create safer spaces in sport for children and youth. More specifically, it is imperative for sport and recreation organizations to have clearly defined policies on peer-to-peer bullying, which are openly communicated to members of the organization. It is also important for organizations to make it clear how members should report incidents of bullying.Finally, policies that adequately define bullying and that address its root causes such as sexism, racism, ableism, and LGBTQphobia are considered best practice as they are determined to be more complete. Policies that highlight the root or ideological causes of bullying may have more long-term impact on reducing bullying behaviours and incidents, as children and youth are encouraged to embrace difference and demonstrate empathy, respect, and compassion (Short, 2013). These policies should co-exist with educational programs on bullying, such as those offered by Respect in Sport and the Canadian Red Cross. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying is a significant problem in U.S. schools. Policies have been developed to reduce bullying, yet policy implementation by educators is an essential yet difficult and complex process. Few studies have investigated factors that act as barriers to or facilitators of bullying policy implementation and teacher protection of students. This study examined the influence of school context on educators’ capacity to implement a statewide bullying law and protect students from bullying following the enactment of the policy. Data were collected from 505 educators in 324 schools. School administrators tended to rate fidelity of policy implementation and teacher protection of students higher than teachers, education support professionals, and student service professionals. Policy implementation fidelity scores were higher in high schools than elementary schools. School size and the prevalence of student suspensions were inversely related to implementation fidelity. Higher levels of teacher protection were reported in elementary schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Incivility in academic workplaces can have detrimental effects on individuals, teams, departments, and the campus community at large. Alternately, healthy academic workplaces generate heightened levels of employee satisfaction, engagement, and morale. Method: This article describes the development and implementation of a comprehensive, legally defensible policy related to workplace civility and the establishment of a healthy academic work environment. Results: A detailed policy exemplar is included to provide a structure for fostering a healthy academic work environment, a fair, consistent, confidential procedure for defining and addressing workplace incivility, a mechanism for reporting and subsequent investigation of uncivil acts if indicated, and ways to foster civility and respectful workplace behavior. Conclusion: The authors detail a step-by-step procedure and an incremental approach to address workplace incivility and reward policy adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation examines the impact teacher protection and principal roie ambiguity have on elementary school student bullying. Data were collected from 1,554 teachers and 198 campus administrators from 104 elementary schools in Texas. HLM analyses are employed to identify the effect that teacher protection, administrator role ambiguity, school size, and socioeconomic status have on student bullying. The findings indicate when teachers espouse a belief in protecting students from bullying and administrators clearly understand their roles, bullying incidents decrease. Thus, enhancing teacher protection and administrator role clarity may serve as useful tools to help educators reduce incidents of school bullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the coverage of state legislation and the expansiveness ratings of state model policies on the state‐level prevalence of bullying in schools. METHODS: The state‐level prevalence of bullying in schools was based on cross‐sectional data from the 2013 High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Multiple regression was conducted to determine whether the coverage of state legislation and the expansiveness rating of a state model policy affected the state‐level prevalence of bullying in schools. RESULTS: The purpose and definition category of components in state legislation and the expansiveness rating of a state model policy were statistically significant predictors of the state‐level prevalence of bullying in schools. The other 3 categories of components in state legislation—District Policy Development and Review, District Policy Components, and Additional Components—were not statistically significant predictors in the model. CONCLUSIONS: Extensive coverage in the purpose and definition category of components in state legislation and a high expansiveness rating of a state model policy may be important in efforts to reduce bullying in schools. Improving these areas may reduce the state‐level prevalence of bullying in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the problem and the main weakness of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as it only protects LGBT students who have been bullied in schools for their nonconformity with gender norms, rather than because of their orientation. Topics discussed include need of violence against LGBT citizens to be understood as hate crimes; homophobic and trans phobic juror bias; and institutional failures in protecting victims of bullying.

Copyright of Ars & Humanitas is the property of Ars & Humanitas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Mobbing (bullying at work) refers to a form of psychological harassment that occurs in the workplace, in which the victim must be systematically and continuously persecuted for a long period of time. The aim of this work is to analyze the court judgments related to mobbing. Methods: The data, collected from a website that included judgments from an Italian court, were analyzed according to the literature, identifying the type of victims, consequences, methods of harassment, type of mobbers, and compensation decided by the court. Results: A total of 35 court sentences were analyzed. The findings showed that the duration of the mobbing campaign was on average 1.5 years and that the frequency of harassment was every day in most cases. In the majority of cases (17, 48.6%) the mobbing occurred in a private company. The gender of the victims who reported the mobbing experience was predominantly female (19, 54.3%), and on average, the victims were 44.54 years of age. The victims were classified as captives (12, 34.3%), scapegoats (8, 22.9%), ambitious (8, 22.9%), passives (5, 14.3%) and hypochondriacs (2, 5.7%). The mobbers were predominantly men (25, 71.4%) and on average 53.20 years of age. They were classified as casual (12, 34.3%), sadists (11, 31.4%), instigators (8, 22.9%) and choleric (4, 11.4%). The witnesses were described in the majority of cases as active, while the asymmetry of power was vertical. On average, the victims suffered 4.9 types of harassment, and the most cited consequences were anxiety disorder and physical symptoms. The motives for beginning the mobbing campaign were principally related to difficulties in relationships. The compensation imposed by the court ranged from less than 20,000 to more than 70,000 euros. Conclusions: The sentences analyzed showed that for different types of victims, there are behaviors, motives and consequences that are linked to different types of perpetrators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying threatens the mental and educational well-being of students. All states have enacted antibullying laws. This study surveyed 634 educators about the implementation of the North Carolina School Violence Prevention Act, which enumerated social classes protected from bullying: race, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, appearance, and disability. Results showed that local antibullying policies most often included race as a protected class and least often included sexual orientation and gender identity. More educators had been trained on bullying based on race than any other social class. Students were more often informed that bullying based on race was prohibited and were least often informed about prohibitions regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Reporting, investigating, and remediating bullying was highest for racial bullying, followed by disability bullying, and was lowest for bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study, educators, LGBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or questioning their sexuality) students, and their allies in a southwestern Pennsylvania sample reported their perceptions of bullying of LGBTQ youth and school climate and awareness of anti-bullying laws and policies within their school systems. Results indicate differences in students’ and educators’ perceptions of the frequency of bullying of LGBTQ students and support for LGBTQ students. LGBTQ students report significantly more bullying of LGBTQ students than their straight allies as well as educators for all forms of bullying assessed. Additionally, educators perceive higher levels of support for students from school personnel and students than reported by students. The importance of educator understanding and intervention in the bullying experiences of LGBTQ students is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs on the impact of Missouri's Safe Schools Act of 1996 on schools. Topics discussed include impact of the same on zero tolerance policies and anti-bullying statutes; amendments of Missouri's criminal code for providing justice to children; and an account of criminal justice system of Missouri.

Introduction: Recent research suggests that anti-bullying laws may be effective in reducing risk of bullying victimization among youth, but no research has determined whether these laws are also effective in reducing disparities in bullying. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the effectiveness of anti-bullying legislation in reducing disparities in sex- and weight-based bullying and cyberbullying victimization.Methods: Data on anti-bullying legislation were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education, which commissioned a systematic review of 16 key components of state laws in 2011. States were also categorized based on whether their legislation enumerated protected groups and, if so, which groups were enumerated. These policy variables from 28 states were linked to individual-level data on bullying and cyberbullying victimization from students in 9th through 12th grade participating in the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System study (N=79,577). Analyses were conducted in 2016.Results: There was an absence of any kind of moderating effect of anti-bullying legislation on weight-based disparities in bullying and cyberbullying victimization. Only state laws with high compliance to Department of Education enumeration guidelines were associated with lower sex-based disparities in bullying victimization.Conclusions: Anti-bullying policies were not associated with lower weight-based disparities in bullying and cyberbullying victimization among youth, and only one form of policies (high compliance to Department of Education enumeration guidelines) was associated with lower sex-based disparities in bullying victimization. Results therefore suggest that anti-bullying legislation requires further refinement to protect youth who are vulnerable to bullying victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decades have shown Norway playing a key role in the huge amount of international research on workplace bullying. Nevertheless, there is still some confusion concerning terms and definitions. The article reasons that this shows a need for exploratory studies on real-life cases, based on neutral sources. It focuses on the impact of viewing workplace bullying as a conflict. The article first addresses some different approaches among researchers and then analyses three transcripts from the Norwegian Appeal Court to illustrate the issue. The cases show that the term ‘conflict’ may encompass bullying in some sense, but this labelling can also be misleading and an obstacle in understanding the situation, especially from the victims’ angle. The article concludes that there is probably no way to evade the word ‘conflict’ in such a context. Nevertheless, those dealing with bullying cases should be aware what their conflict perceptions imply. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The scholarly literature in higher education has not dealt extensively with the responsibilities of institutions for servicing the rights of international students. This paper is a comparative analysis of legal frameworks which guide institutions in their handling of international student rights. Two national approaches, those of Australia and New Zealand, are used as a comparative analysis from which implications are drawn for institutions in other countries. The comparison indicates increasing legalism in higher education, though more law does not necessarily coincide with better rights for students. Also indicated is the importance of institutions providing more and better information to students on rights. More generally the analysis implores institutions to form, and work with, a critical understanding of the law and policy agendas of governments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]