Bullying 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 1/8 Issue Date: June 29, 2009 http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220

Since ICOF last covered bullying in April 2005, several school shootings have involved students with a history of bullying or of being bullied. Click here for the latest developments concerning this controversial issue. Recognizing the Bully Effects of Bullying on the Bully And the Bullied States Address Bullying in School Through Legislation Proponents Back Statewide Antibullying Legislation Opponents Say Antibullying Laws Misguided The Future of Antibullying Efforts Discussion Questions & Activities Bibliography Additional Sources Contact Information Key Words and Points Bullying Update (2009) The issue: Should states adopt legislation that prohibits harassing and bullying behavior in schools? Or is antibullying legislation an unnecessary and ineffective use of legislative authority? Supporters of antibullying legislation say: Increasingly violent attacks by bullied students point to a need for antibullying legislation. Current regulations regarding bullies are insufficient to protect students, and lack of uniformity of regulations makes them difficult to enforce. Opponents of antibullying legislation say: Statewide laws are unnecessary, as sufficient measures are already in place for dealing with bullies. Statewide antibullying legislation would take power away from educators and give it to the legislatures, which are not equipped to know the individual needs of school districts. Bullies are infamous in popular culture. Lucy constantly taunted Charlie Brown in Charles Schulz's comic strip "Peanuts," in particular every time he attempted to kick a football. In the musical Annie, based on the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie," Ms. Hannigan physically abused Annie, forced her to scrub floors and attempted to keep her from the millionaire who wanted to adopt her. And perhaps the ultimate bully was Lex Luther, who constantly attempted to destroy Superman with kryptonite, the one substance that could render Superman devoid of his superpowers. Mark Leffingwell/AFP/Getty Images Students visit a memorial site for victims of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Studies show that attackers in violent school incidents were often targets of bullying. According to statistics, bullies are as prevalent in real life as they are in fiction, and nowhere more than on school campuses. In a 2002 survey of students in grades five through 12 conducted by the Families and Work Institute, 32% of students 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 2/8 responded that they were the victims of bullying at least once per month, and 12% reported being bullied five times or more in a single month. Furthermore, 23% stated that they had acted as bullies at least once during the previous month. Psychology professor Dorothea Ross provided a definition of bullying in her 1996 book Childhood Bullying and Teasing. She wrote: Bullying is a form of social interaction- not necessarily longstandingin which a more dominant individual (the bully) exhibits aggressive behavior that is intended to, and does, in fact, cause distress to a less dominant individual (the victim). The aggressive behavior may take the forms of a direct physical and/or verbal attack or may be indirect. More than one bully and more than one victim may participate in the interaction. Bullying is not a cutanddried offense. It may be difficult to recognize in some instances, but it is generally acknowledged by students, parents and school personnel as a problem. Physical bullying is more prevalent among students in elementary and middle schools, and tends to taper off in high school, but indirect bullying, such as verbal abuse, is common among students at every level. Surveys of both students and parents repeatedly indicate that bullying has a negative effect on the subjects of bullying as well as on the bullies themselves. Both groups of students have higher school dropout rates than their peers. Bullied children also tend to have failing grades, and to experience depression, or anger and aggression. And a 2002 government study of violent attacks in schools indicates that many of the student attackers had been the victims of repeated bullying. In addition, according to a 2003 study by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national advocacy group comprised of more than 2,000 law enforcement officers and victims of violence, bullies are more likely than others to move toward a life of crime. As many as 40% of bullies will have been convicted of a crime three times before they reach the age of 24. Though individual schools and school districts have long sought to deal with students who bully, in recent years the problem of bullying in school has been increasingly debated in state legislatures. In fact, as of April 2005, 19 states, in addition to Guam and Puerto Rico, had enacted statewide legislation dealing with bullying. (Most recently, New York and Virginia adopted legislation in early 2005.) Jeremy Eagle The statutes vary widely in terms of how they address the problem of school bullies, as well as whether they designate that 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 3/8 action be taken on a state or local level. However, the general purpose in enacting the statutes is similar: to not only denounce bullying as unacceptable, but also to keep it from happening. As a result, the statutes call for school boards to create bully prevention programs, including prevention and intervention strategies, investigation protocols and notification procedures. Advocates of antibullying legislation argue that the increasingly violent means by which bullied students retaliate, as in cases where the bullied students have gunned down students and school personnel on their school campuses, mandate tougher antibullying laws. Others argue that the current regulations regarding bullies are insufficient to protect students. And the lack of uniformity of such regulations makes them more difficult to enforce, they contend. Furthermore, because many antibullying policies provide guidelines rather than strict rules, they do not adequately force school districts to enforce antibullying measures, supporters say. Antibullying advocates also claim that a costbenefit analysis shows that in the long run, it costs far less to install antibullying programs than to have to deal with the results of bullying, such as escalated criminal activity by bullies or the emotional problems some children experience as a result of being bullied. Opponents of antibullying legislation, on the other hand, argue that statewide laws are unnecessary, because sufficient measures are already in place for dealing with the issue of bullying. Legislation dealing specifically with bullying would simply create more bureaucratic red tape for teachers and administrators, who could instead be working on addressing the specific needs of their schools, they assert. Others argue that bullying should be addressed at the local level only. They express concern that statewide legislation would take power away from educators and give it to the legislatures, which are not equipped to know the individual needs of school districts. They claim that antibullying laws represent "feel good" legislation that politicians use to gain political advantage. Finally, some opponents argue that bullying is a rite of passage, and that legislation addressing bullying is not needed. Recognizing the Bully According to the National Education Association (NEA), which has launched a National Bullying Awareness Campaign, bullying is a community issue that requires the involvement of many parties, including students, parents, teachers, school administrators and local, state and national governments. The NEA argues that bullying has become more "lethal" and more frequent over the past few decades, and that concerted action to prevent and eventually eradicate bullying is more necessary than ever. It is widely recognized that boys will generally bully in direct, physical ways, while girls generally use less- direct tactics. The National Conference of State Legislatures has adopted the following list of bullying tactics, created by the National School Safety Center: poking, punching, strangling, suffocating, pinching, shoving, hitting, biting, spitting, hair pulling, finger bending, ganging up and cornering, stabbing, excessive tickling, burning, poisoning, theft and shooting. Experts argue that indirect bullyingin the form of verbal and emotional abusecan be at least as harmful as physical abuse in the long run. Although both boys and girls participate in indirect bullying, it is far more common among girls. Indirect bullying includes such acts as: namecalling and putdowns, verbal threats, cruel jokes, rejection, humiliation, blackmail, playing mean or embarrassing tricks, ostracism on the basis of looks or social status, hateful graffiti, manipulating friendships, demands for money or property, indecent gestures, and defamation or telling lies about someone. In addition, some bullies will engage in sexual bullying and hate- motivated bullying. Both may include any of the abovementioned acts, but sexual bullying may also include voyeurism, sexual harassment, sexual propositioning or sexual assault. Hatemotivated bullying may include taunting about race, sexual orientation, religion and physical or mental disabilities. Although there are instances in which it is not clear whether a child is bullying or whether he or she is simply going through normal childhood rituals of interaction, many types of bullying are clear. And reports of surveys and studies taken of students indicate that bullying is an everpresent part of school life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 864,000 high school students, or 5.4%, claim to have stayed home from school at least once per month as a result of fearing for their safety. Yet according to the National Association of School Psychologists, onequarter of surveyed teachers claim that there is "nothing wrong" with bullying, and in only 4% of bullying incidents have teachers actually intervened. Effects of Bullying on the Bully And the Bullied Prompted by fatal shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999, in which two students killed 13 individuals and injured more than 20 others at the school, the U.S. Secret Service and the Education Department examined the cases of 41 attackers in 37 different incidents of school violence from 1974 to 1999. The results of the study, referred to as the Safe Schools Initiative, were released in 2002. Through indepth interviews, the initiative discovered that approximately 71% of the attackers had experienced threats, physical violence, persecution and bullying from other students before carrying out their violent attacks. In several cases, they had been the targets of "longstanding and severe" bullying. 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 4/8 William Thomas Cain/Getty Images Miss America 2003, Erika Harold, walks the runway after winning the pageant. Harold was the subject of bullying when she was in the ninth grade, and as a result, adopted violence among youth as her Miss America platform. The report goes on to note that "in some of these cases the experience of being bullied seemed to have a significant impact on the attacker and appeared to have been a factor in his decision to mount an attack at the school." An anecdote included in the report notes that one attacker was described by his schoolmates as "the kid everyone teased." The attacker's schoolmates claimed that almost every student in the school had engaged in bullying behavior toward him, including tripping, shoving, hitting him with objects and holding his head under water. While most bullying does not have such dramatic consequences, the psychological effects on both bullied and bullying students can be as serious. Studies have shown that, combined with other factors such as home life and individual disposition, bullying can have a devastating impact on a bullied student's life. Students who are repeatedly targeted by bullies often experience great stress and a variety of fears, including a fear of going to school, using the school restroom and riding the bus to and from school. In addition, bullied students may become physically ill from the stress and fear. Miss America 2003, Erika Harold, chose to champion antibullying during her reign. Her reason for doing so was that she herself had been bullied in ninth grade. "It started out with people calling me names, and then it got worse," Harold explained. "They threw things at me, they vandalized my house, and they sang nasty songs about me in school hallways and classrooms. It got so bad that I felt like I was in danger physically." Shay Bilchik, president and chief executive officer of the Child Welfare League of America, a nonprofit organization that promotes the wellbeing of children and their families, argues that bullying does not just make it difficult for some children to physically attend school because they are afraid to do so. Those who are bullied are also at greater risk of losing interest in school, getting failing grades or dropping out of school altogether, being depressed or committing suicide. Included in the legislative findings accompanying the antibullying legislation passed in New Jersey is the statement, "Bullying, like other disruptive or violent behaviors...disrupts both a student's ability to learn and a school's ability to educate its students in a safe environment." Antibullying advocates argue that bullying has an equally deleterious effect on bullies themselves. According to the NEA's National Bullying Awareness Campaign, if a bully is not reprimanded and taught not to bully, he or she may move on to such misdeeds as sexual harassment and criminal activity. According to research by psychologist and antibullying expert Dan Olweus, as many as 60% of male students who exhibited bullying behavior in the sixth through ninth grades were convicted of a crime by the time they reached adulthood (compared with 23% among nonbullies). Furthermore, 40% of the bullies garnered three or more convictions by the time they reached the age of 24. The National Bullying Awareness Campaign also claims that bullies will often grow up and perpetuate a cycle of violence within their own families. And some research has indicated that bullies are also more likely to receive poor grades and drop out of school. According to Dr. Howard Spivak, of Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, Mass., while some bullies may go on to hold positions of high social standing among their peers, they display higher rates of emotional distress and are prone to experience greater social isolation. According to the National Association of School Psychologists, both bullies and bullied students show a higher incidence of fighting as compared with their peers. And studies also have shown that students who are bullied may turn around and themselves bully other students, creating a vicious cycle. States Address Bullying in School Through Legislation While states have taken varying stances on how to proceed in the prevention of bullying, their definition of bullying remains fairly consistent. Bullying, generally, is defined as written, verbal or physical acts that cause emotional or physical injury to other students. Although most state legislation provides an overarching definition for bullying, three statesArkansas, New Jersey and Oregonrequire individual school districts to establish their own definitions. From state to state, antibullying legislation also varies based on how much is mandated by the state legislature and how much is left to the discretion of individual school districts, as well as on how antibullying programs are introduced into school districts. State legislation also varies regarding how the effectiveness of antibullying programs will be assessed. 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 5/8 Some antibullying laws mandate that every school district in the state adopt the exact policy created at the state level. In the state of Washington, for instance, the state superintendent of public instruction has the sole authority to develop an antibullying policy, which must be adopted by every school district. Furthermore, the superintendent also is empowered to deliver training materials to all of the districts, as well as to conduct workshops to ensure statewide uniformity in antibullying policies. Finally, the state of Washington also appropriated $500,000 for antibullying programs. Other state laws mandate that each school district adopt its own policy, but may provide suggested guidelines to assist individual districts. In New Jersey, the commissioner of education is assigned the task of developing a model policy, from which districts can tailor a policy to their specific needs. In creating the policies, districts must include students, parents, school personnel and members of the community in the process, and then must file the final policy with the district's county superintendent of schools. Furthermore, state law mandates that each district's policy include a definition of bullying, a statement prohibiting such behavior, a procedure for both reporting and investigating bullying incidents, as well as several other requirements. However, school personnel and students are to be educated about the antibullying policy only to the extent that funds are availablefunds that must be found at the local level. Oklahoma, on the other hand, has created safeschool committees (SSCs) to recommend solutions regarding school safety issues to school principals. SSCs are made up of 12 members, including the principal, superintendent of schools, parents, teachers and students. As of 2002, SSCs have been charged with creating recommendations for dealing with bullying. The state law does not, however, give the SSCs any authority to mandate changes to school policies or to themselves enact binding policies or install training programs in the schools. Nearly every state that has adopted antibullying legislation has included a provision that grants immunity to individuals reporting an alleged bullying incident from any lawsuit arising from such a report. The caveat for immunity is that the report must have been made "in good faith" and according to established reporting procedures. That provision is designed to encourage victims of bullying as well as witnesses to bullying to report incidents without fear of reprisal. When it comes to punishing or retraining students who bully, most statutes leave that up to the local districts. However, most of the legislation specifically requires that procedures be created by local districts both for reporting acts of bullying and for investigating those reports. Proponents Back Statewide Antibullying Legislation Proponents of antibullying legislation point to the increasingly violent retaliation of bullied students as a key reason that antibullying measures are vital. The Columbine shooting is but one example, they argue. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, from 1992 to 2000 there were 390 schoolassociated violent deaths at U.S. elementary or secondary school campuses; 234 were ruled homicides, while 43 were suicides by schoolaged children. "Bullying is no longer just a schoolyard issue," Bilchik states. "In light of the school shootings in the late 90s and again in recent weeks, bullying is a problem that everyone needs to take personally." Some proponents argue that current regulations do not sufficiently protect children. The lack of uniformity of antibullying policies creates inconsistent enforcement, they claim, and policies that merely suggest approaches to bullying do not provide school districts with enough incentive to enforce antibullying programs. "Kids have nowhere to turn and they know it!" argues Brenda High, executive director of Bully Police USA, an antibullying organization. High speaks from the experience of having had a son who committed suicide after repeated abuse from his peers. "We can wait for all school districts to make policies concerning bullying, but they will take their direction from the state superintendent's office and the state superintendent's office takes their direction from lawmakers," she adds. "Schools will only do what they are mandated to do." Furthermore, antibullying advocates claim that the cost of operating bullying prevention programs is far less than the social and criminal costs resulting from bullying behavior. For example, the study by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids showed that while training someone to run a bullying prevention program in a large district costs approximately $4,000, the cost of providing special education for children with emotional problems is $100,000 per child. And a Vanderbilt University study undertaken in 1998 found that every single juvenile considered to be "highrisk" who is prevented from entering a life of crimeperhaps by going through an antibullying programcould save the U.S. anywhere from $1.7 million to $2.3 million. "We can't afford to squander the early warning that bullying gives that a kid may be headed for trouble," says Sanford Newman, president of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. Opponents Say Antibullying Laws Misguided Opponents of antibullying legislation argue that statewide antibullying legislation is unnecessary. Some argue that it is unnecessary because sufficient measures are already in place for dealing with bullying, while others say that it is not needed because bullying is not a problem to be addressed by legislation. Kay Hymowitz, author of Liberation's Children: Parents and Kids in a Postmodern Age (2003), argues that legislatures and laws are the wrong methods for fighting bullies. Instead, she claims, it must be recognized that bullying is based on a "peerdriven hierarchy that sets the tone in most middle and high schools." She argues that schools where bullies are rare are 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 6/8 usually run by "dynamic principals" who build supportive communities. "What legislators don't seem to grasp," Hymowitz writes, "is that kids bully...not because they are prejudiced in any familiar adult sense but because they are crude, Darwinian creatures trying to stake out territory and proclaim dominance." Legislation would create bureaucracy and paperwork, whereas strong adult supervision and support from teachers and school personnel would create real results, she contends. Still others argue that the antibullying laws merely represent "feel good" legislation that politicians are using for personal gain. Nonprofit group National School Safety and Security Services points to the fact that many of the antibullying measures proposed do not include funding, at a time when school districts are cutting funds to implement school safety programs. "Legislative mandates requiring schools to have antibullying policies and programs create great election year hype," the group argues, but "the vast majority of schools have policies to deal with harassment and disruption of the educational environment." Furthermore, some opponents express concern that statewide legislation would take power away from educators and give it to the legislature. Darcy Olsen, the director of education and child policy at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, claims that state laws regarding bullying miss the point, and erode the power of teachers and school administrators to properly control their schools. Claiming that such legislation is "worthless," she argues, "It will only burden them with more paperwork." Finally, some opponents argue that any legislation is beside the point because bullying is simply a fact of life that nearly every child deals with. "There are still people who think that everyone gets bullied, 'it's a rite of passage, that's just the way it is,' " says Finessa Ferrell, a research analyst with NCSL. One such person who views bullying as a rite of passage is Matt Labash, a senior writer with the conservative magazine the Weekly Standard. Labash attended a bullying workshop, the Don't Laugh At Me program, and reported skepticism as to both the effectiveness and necessity of antibullying programs. He quotes Richard Hazler, who teaches counselor education at Ohio University, to support his point of view: I don't want to say that bullying is okay. But it's a teaching tool for kids. It teaches them to get along with people, how to use power, the victimshow to obtain power when not in power positions. How do we stop bullying and victimization? I hate to make this case in public. But we don't entirely want to.... The Future of Antibullying Efforts In November 2002, Jonathan Eig wrote a personal essay in the New York Times about the life of a man who had mercilessly bullied him as a boy. He describes his bully, Douglas Milteer, as "pudgy, pugnacious, usually scowling." He wrote that "for a time, I was his favorite target, subject to impromptu beatings and continual teasing." He noted that often Milteer's older brothers would often join in the bullying. Eig never knew why he was the target of the Milteers, but some time around 2000 he learned that Douglas Milteer had died. After some research and interviews with Milteer's family members and acquaintances, Eig learned that Milteer had died of AIDS at age 33, penniless and alone. From anecdotes, he learned that Milteer had been the object of nearconstant beatings by his two older brothers, and that all three were consistently hit by their mother. After high school, Milteer had lived a fast and angry life, sleeping with many women and spending money ostentatiously. Nowhere in Eig's story does he mention any action taken by the children's parents, nor by any school administrators, to intervene in the bullying. Antibullying awareness groups and sympathetic politicians are fighting to ensure that both parents and school personnel be involved in what advocates see as a serious and debilitating situation. Eig seemed to have survived the bullying and to have emerged as a welladjusted adult. Still, what might have happened to Eig had his teachers intervened, and had the boys gone through bully prevention training programs? Might they have learned alternative ways to cope? Might Eig have escaped some of his beatings? It is difficult to know, but if the tide of antibullying legislation sweeping across the U.S. is any indication, studies may soon be available to provide an answer. Discussion Questions & Activities 1) How often do you see people being bullied in your school? Do you think people should intervene when they see someone being bullied? 2) Do you consider bullying a serious problem in general, or is it a rite of passage of childhood? Discuss. 3) What do you think it will take to stop students from bullying other students? 4) Whose role should it be to address bullying in the schools: state governments or local school boards? 5) What do you think makes bullies act the way that they do? Bibliography 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 7/8 Abrams, David. "Senate Passes Bill for Tracking Bullying." The Capital, April 9, 2005, www.hometownannapolis.com. Bilchik, Shay. "Your Child and Bullying: Tips for Parents and Communities." 365gay.com, April 11, 2005, www.365gay.com. "Bullying and School Safety." National School Safety and Security Service, 1996- 2005, www.schoolsecurity.org. Cohn, Andrea, and Andrea Cantor. "Bully: Facts for Schools and Parents." National Association of School Psychologists, October 7, 2003, www.naspcenter.org. Eig, Jonathan. "Violent, Unhappy and BriefThe Life of a School Bully." New York Times, November 20, 2002, A1. FerrelSmith, Finessa. "Tackling the Schooyard Bully: Combining Policy Making with Prevention." National Conference of State Legislatures, 2004, www.ncsl.org. Harmon, Amy. "Internet Gives Teenage Bullies Weapons to Wound From Afar." New York Times, August 26, 2004, www.nytimes.com. Hymowitz, Kay. "Silly Laws are No Way to Fight Bullying." Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2004, www.latimes.com. Labash, Matt. "Beating Up on Bullies." Weekly Standard, February 24, 2003, 23. Lee, Catherine. "Getting Tough on Bullies." Downlow, 2001, www.jrn.columbia.edu. Madigan, Erin. 'Bullying by School Kids Gets Lawmakers' Attention." Stateline, March 18, 2004, www.stateline.org. Oberliesen, Elise. "Schools Help Kids Stand Up to Bullies." Detroit News, April 12, 2005, www.detnews.com. "Report: Bullies at Risk of Becoming Criminals." CNN.com, September 4, 2003, www.cnn.com. Rosemond, John. "Authority Figure Must Confront Bully." Miami Herald, April 9, 2005, www.miami.com. Additional Sources Additional information about bullying can be found in the following sources: Coloroso, Barbara. The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: From Preschool to High SchoolHow Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence. New York: HarperResource, 2004. Davis, Stan. Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing Bullying. Rockville, Md.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005. Contact Information Information on how to contact organizations that are either mentioned in the discussion of bullying or can provide additional information on the subject is listed below: Stop Bullying Now! U.S. Health and Human Services Department 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 1445 Rockville, Md. 20857 Telephone (301) 4433376 Internet: stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov National Education Association 1201 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 200363290 Telephone: (202) 8334000 Internet: www.nea.org Cato Institute 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington D.C. 200015403 Telephone: (202) 8420200 Internet: www.cato.org Key Words and Points For further information about the ongoing debate over bullying, search for the following words and terms in electronic databases and other publications: 9/8/2015 Facts On File News Services http://www.2facts.com/PrintPage.aspx?PIN=i1000220 8/8 Cyberbullying Bully Police National Bullying Awareness Campaign Dan Olweus Safe Schools Initiative Bullying Update (June 2009) Since ICOF last covered bullying in April 2005, several school shootings have involved students with a history of bullying or of being bullied. Among the key events: Fifteenyearold Christopher Penley was fatally shot on January 13, 2006, after sheriff's deputies in Longwood, Fla., mistook the pellet gun he was brandishing at his middle school for a ninemillimeter semiautomatic pistol. Other students had reportedly bullied Penley in the past. [See 2006 Facts On File: Crime: News in Brief] On September 29, 2006, 15yearold Eric Hainstock brought a shotgun and handgun to his school in rural Cazenovia, Wis. A school janitor seized Hainstock's shotgun, and the school's principal, John Klang, struggled with the student. Hainstock shot Klang three times with his handgun, and the principal later died in a hospital. According to a police report, Hainstock had blamed the principal and others for failing to protect him from being bullied by his classmates. [See 2006 Facts On File: Crime: Gunman Kills Five Girls in Amish School...Wisconsin Boy Subdued by Adults] A 14yearold student, who had reportedly been bullied regularly about his appearance, wounded two students before fatally shooting himself on October 10, 2007, at SuccessTech Academy high school in Ohio. The student, Asa Coon, had faced teasing for wearing nail polish and black trench coats. Coon had carried two guns, two knives and two boxes of bullets into the school the day of the shooting. [See 2007 Facts On File: Crime: Four Wounded in Ohio School Shooting] On October 10, 2007, a 14yearold homeschooled boy was arrested in Plymouth Township, Pa., and charged with possession of a criminal instrument and solicitation to commit terror. The boy had allegedly asked another teenager to help him attack Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. The boy's parents had taken him out of the public school system the previous year because he had been a victim of bullying. Police found three firearms and seven handmade grenades, along with knives and air rifles, in the boy's bedroom. [See 2007 Facts On File: Crime: Four Wounded in Ohio School Shooting...Pennsylvania Student Arrested Over Weapons] Fourteenyearold Brandon McInerney had allegedly bullied fellow student Lawrence King before shooting and killing him on February 12, 2008. King had been openly gay, and McInerny was charged with a premeditate hate crime, along with gun possession.

[See 2008 Facts On File: Crime: Gunman Kills Five at Illinois College] © 2015 Facts On File News Services Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation: "Bullying." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 29 June 2009. Web. 8 Sept. 2015. . For further information see Citing Sources in MLA Style. Facts On File News Services' automatically generated MLA citations have been updated according to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition. American Psychological Association (APA) Citation format: The title of the article. (Year, Month Day). Issues & Controversies On File. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from Issues & Controversies database. See the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Citations for more information on citing in A