Research Journal 10: Cyberbullying and the Law

I am currently reading "Cyber Bullying In Schools and the Law: Is There an Effective Means of Addressing the Power Imbalance?" . This very interesting article explores the criminality of cyberbullying and the potential for cyberbullies to be prosecuted under Australian criminal law. As I have no formal training in law some of the finer definitions are unfamiliar to me, however in general it is an easy to read document.

Butler et al explore the possibility of cyberbullies being prosecuted in the criminal law system. At present only New South Wales has an anti- school bullying legislation, which applies only to bullying on the school grounds and cannot be extended to cyberbullying. However, if cyberbullies were prosecuted under an existing offence such as assault, stalking, threats, extortion, harrassment and so on (Butler et al, p. 89), victims could have some hope of legal redress.

Another means of redress may be via the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995, Section 474.17, which makes it an offence to use telecommunication services to menace, harass or cause offence (punishable by 3 years) (Butler et al, p. 91). Butler et al include the internet in the definition of telecommunication services.

Since there is currently no specific legislation against cyberbullying, victims have to rely on laws such as discussed above for redress against their bullies. The good news is that there appear to be a number of ways in which cyberbullies could be prosecuted - the test will be a precedent in the courts, which has, as yet, not occured in Australia. The bad news is that these remedies are still only available for children who choose to report their victimisation to authorities - and studies such as that by the Australian Institute of Criminology show that children are reluctant to report cyberbullying, meaning that the law is unable to assist children that do not utilise it.

Source:
Butler, D., Kift, S., & Campbell, M. (2009) "Cyber Bullying In Schools and the Law:
Is There an Effective Means of Addressing the Power Imbalance?" eLaw Journal: Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, 16(1). Accessed at https://elaw.murdoch.edu.au/index.php/elawmurdoch/article/view/24/8

"Covert and Cyber Bullying: Research in Practice No. 9" (2010) Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra. Accessed at http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/1-10/09.aspx