Bullying: prevention is crime prevention.

• Author: Backstrom, James C.

BULLYING BEHAVIOR may seem rather insignificant compared to kids bringing guns to school or getting involved with drugs. Bullying is often dismissed as part of growing up--a rite of passage. It's actually an early form of aggressive and violent behavior on the part of the bully. When left unresolved, it can be very traumatic on the part of the victim and even bystanders.

Since launching an anti-bullying and harassment educational program during the 2002-03 school year in my community, I've brought an anti-bullying intervention and prevention message to over 14,000 students, parents and school personnel. I was once asked why I as a prosecutor would waste my time talking about this issue instead of working to lock up real criminals. I quickly pointed out the report Fight Crime: Invest in Kids that six out of 10 boys who bully will have a criminal record before age 24. Like Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, my belief is that bullying prevention is crime prevention. I believe that reducing bullying and harassing behavior by youth ultimately reduces juvenile crime and other forms of illegal and aggressive behaviors such as domestic assaults, child abuse, animal cruelty and road rage, among others.

Recent research suggests that young people who are bullied may not always tell adults as they may be afraid or ashamed. This may result in a student being victimized for a prolonged period of time before it is discovered. Consequently, bullying carries the potential for serious short, medium and long-term adverse impacts. We have, unfortunately, all witnessed the ultimate tragedy that can result from bullying behavior when a teenage victim in Massachusetts took her own life recently. [See insert above.]

In order for schools to carry out their duty of providing all students with a safe environment in which to learn, grow and develop, schools need to enlist the support and cooperation of parents and others in the community to take a strong position not to tolerate bullying behavior in any form. Obtaining support from community leaders in law enforcement, prosecution, social services and public health can also be important.

A number of prosecutors like myself have initiated anti-bullying programs in their offices. In our program, we obtained permission to use some outstanding PowerPoint slides with video clips and graphics created by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey. We then added some local statistics and fine tuned it to meet our own...