Article

Is Bullying a Junior Hate Crime? Implications for Interventions

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Abstract

Hate crimes and bullying behaviors among children have similarities. Both often focus on “different” individuals as preferred targets, such as those from controversial groups (e.g., homosexuals). Thus, unequal power exists between a bully and his or her victim, and this dynamic precludes the use of equal-power interventions such as mediation. A second similarity is a lack of basic respect for all persons and the subsequent justification of violence against a particular person or group. A third similarity is the predominance of these behaviors among young (juvenile) offenders. These similarities between hate crimes and bullying in children may inform bullying-prevention efforts. Programs need to reduce bullying behaviors by focusing on tolerance of differences, the promotion of positive attitudes toward diversity, and negative attitudes toward hate-based victimization of people who may be different from the mainstream. The Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center's Anti-Bullying Program provides a model for this approach.

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... Because of challenges that impede the criminalization of bullying, other approaches should be considered. For example, researchers have compared bullying behaviors to other forms of interpersonal violence that are addressed at both state and federal levels including hate crimes (Englander, 2007; U.S. Department of Justice, 2018), stalking (National Center for Victims of Crime, 2013), or discriminatory harassment when the offense is based on race, national origin, race, religion, sex, age, or disability (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). ...
... Indeed, bullying behaviors are like hate crimes because both types of perpetrators target their victims for being different from others and because there is an unequal balance of power between both parties (Englander, 2007). Because of these dynamics, a lack of respect can manifest between persons and subsequently lead perpetrators to justify the violent behavior. ...
... Therefore, mediation interventions can be ineffective and a more punitive approach to handling offenders may be warranted (Englander, 2007). ...
... However, hate speech directed at an individual is not considered criminal behavior in the USA (Moshman, 2020). This is notable because a significant proportion of bias-based victimization is verbal in nature (e.g., harassment, name-calling, threats) or happens in the context of a bullying incident (Birkett et al., 2009;Englander, 2007;Larochette et al., 2010;Mulvey et al., 2018;Rosenthal et al., 2015). Even if bullying incidents include criminal elements, they are typically handled as a school discipline concern and not reported to law enforcement (Patchin & Hinduja, 2018). ...
Article
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While research knowledge of bias-based bullying is increasing, there has been only limited research comparing in-person and online bias-based victimization incidents. The current study presents data on 521 bias-based incidents experienced by a large sample of youth (n = 854), 13–21 years old, examining differences between incidents that occurred solely online, solely in-person, or both online and in-person. Specifically, we examined whether the three types of incidents differed by: (a) respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, immigrant status, religion, any disability, sexual orientation); (b) incident-level characteristics (i.e., victimization type, perpetrator relationship, number of perpetrators, physical injury, any weapon used, duration of the incident, location of the incident, and disclosure); and (c) negative impact (emotional distress, school-related problems, and physical symptoms). Results indicated that online-only bias-based victimization incidents occurred less frequently, and impacted victims less negatively, than either in-person only or combined online/in-person bias victimization. Incidents that were a mix of online and in-person bias-based victimization were the most distressing type of incident for youth, even controlling for other aggravating features (e.g., the number of perpetrators). Findings highlight the importance of asking vulnerable youth about the context of bias-based victimization they may have experienced and suggest that prevention initiatives will need to incorporate strategies to address the different environments in which bias-based victimization incidents occur.
... Attention is a general reaction of the organism and consciousness that causesincreased activity, concentration and limitation of an object. Based on table 11 The results of this study are in line with the research of [1], Indarto (2012), and [11], which concluded that learning styles significantly influence student achievement. ...
... Perilaku bullying dipandang sebagai masalah hubungan sosial, maka meningkatkan fungsi sosial merupakan elemen kunci dalam mereduksi perilaku bullying (Swearer dkk, 2009). Menurut Englander (2007) program intervensi bullying perlu mereduksi perilaku bullying dengan berfokus pada toleransi terhadap perbedaan dan menampilkan sikap positif dalam berperilaku. Sebagian besar perilaku yang ditunjukkan oleh pelaku bullying dapat dikatakan bahwa mereka kurang memiliki keterampilan sosial dalam berinteraksi dengan lingkungan sosialnya. ...
Article
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Salah satu tindak kekerasan yang sering terjadi di sekolah adalah bullying. Permasalahan bullying tidak hanya dialami oleh siswa di sekolah regular, melainkan banyak pula yang terjadi pada siswa di sekolah inklusi khususnya terhadap siswa berkebutuhan khusus. Bullying merupakan salah satu bentuk permasalahan hubungan sosial, yang disebabkan oleh rendahnya keterampilan sosial yang dimiliki oleh pelaku. Maka salah satu cara yang diprediksi dapat mereduksi yakni dengan meningkatkan fungsi sosial melalui program intervensi berupa social skills training. Tujuan dari penelitian adalah untuk melihat efektivitas social skills training dalam mereduksi intensitas bullying pada remaja. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini berjumlah tiga orang yang berada pada rentang usia remaja. Partisipan merupakan pelaku bullying pada jenjang sekolah menengah pertama di salah satu sekolah inklusi. Partisipan akan mengikuti social skills training selama enam sesi yang berdurasi sekitar 90-120 menit tiap sesinya. Penelitian ini menggunakan single case experiment design, dengan pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan teknik wawancara, observasi, dan juga self-report melalui pengisian skala perilaku bullying dan skala keterampilan sosial. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa social skills training memiliki pengaruh pada penurunan intensitas bullying, hanya saja penurunan tidak terjadi secara signifikan. Penanganan permasalahan bullying sebaiknya tidak hanya ditujukan kepada pelaku ataupun korban, melainkan dengan whole-school approach, sehingga pihak sekolah dan orang tua dapat turut serta dalam penanggulangan masalah bullying yang terjadi.
... In her piece on similarities between bullying and hate crimes, Elizabeth Englander, a cyberbullying scholar and the director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, draws parallels between the two. While Massachusetts has both hate crimes and bullying laws that include cyberbullying, she proposes that instead of focusing on punishment, the similarities between hate crimes and bullying should be used to inform prevention efforts emphasizing tolerance of differences, promotion of positive attitudes toward diversity, and reduction of negative attitudes toward hate-based victimization of children outside of the mainstream (Englander, 2007). ...
Chapter
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This chapter provides a more elaborate review and a critical examination of research findings about digital bullying, drawing from an interdisciplinary literature. In light of these findings, it critically analyzes media coverage of e-safety, online risks and harms, which digital bullying is an example of, as well as moral and technopanics –exaggerated concerns over youth use of technology and the consequences that emerge under such circumstances for various stakeholders. This chapter also builds the case for considering protection from digital bullying in the context of children’s rights. Wider social and cultural problems that remain less discussed in public discourse on digital bullying are given special attention to, building the case as to why it is important to address the culture of humiliation, focusing attention on dignity, rather than engaging in simplistic binaries of finger-pointing that are so often witnessed in the aftermaths of digital bullying cases.
... Hatred may often be reflected in different behavioural forms, such as oppression, discrimination, bullying [29][30][31], abuse, harassment [32][33][34], threats of rape [35], incitement, offline violence threats [36] and misogyny [37], etc. The form of hatred will result in the form of violence [38][39][40][41][42]. ...
Article
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Mobile devices with social media applications are the prevalent user equipment to generate and consume digital hate content. The objective of this paper is to propose a mobile edge computing architecture for regulating and reducing hate content at the user's level. In this regard, the profiling of hate content is obtained from the results of multiple studies by quantitative and qualitative analyses. Profiling resulted in different categories of hate content caused by gender, religion, race, and disability. Based on this information, an architectural framework is developed to regulate and reduce hate content at the user's level in the mobile computing environment. The proposed architecture will be a novel idea to reduce hate content generation and its impact.
... An asymmetry in power can be constituted in many ways, including physical strength, social status, or age. Weakness or difference among victims of bullying might be defined in terms of physical appearance, weight, emotional status, sexual promiscuity, or status as an outsider, based on social position, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, or a combination of these characteristics (Englander, 2007). Aggression may also be a way to target and punish perceived violation from social norms, and those who inhabit identities with less social power may be more at risk for aggression or harassment (Duggan, 2017). ...
Article
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Cyberbullying is an area of great anxiety related to adolescents’ use of social media. Although the affordances of social media sites often allow aggressive online content to be stored and searched, the actual content of aggressive posts has not been explored in great detail. The purpose of this content analysis was to examine discursive strategies used in aggressive posts, responses, and bystander comments on a social media site that is both popular among young adolescents and a known online site of cyberbullying behavior. A total of 993 question–answer dyads were analyzed. In this sample, aggressors are almost exclusively anonymous. Posters of aggressive content demean profile owners on the basis of social status, romantic success, emotional instability, perceived physical attractiveness, and age. Most profile owners attracted a comment from at least one supportive bystander. In general, bystander comments either attacked aggressive posters for their cruelty or their cowardice at being anonymous or supported profile owners by affirming their physical attractiveness or social competence. A power differential between aggressor and victim is a key feature that distinguishes bullying from other social conflicts among adolescents. Results show that, in the absence of physical power, online aggressors use discursive strategies to affirm their dominance over their victims. In turn, victims of online aggression, as well as supportive bystanders, use a variety of methods to attempt to resolve the power differential. Our findings have implications for development of digital citizenship and anti-cyberbullying initiatives that promote effective bystander behavior online.
... In her piece on similarities between bullying and hate crimes, Elizabeth Englander, a cyberbullying scholar and the director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, draws parallels between the two. While Massachusetts has both hate crimes and bullying laws that include cyberbullying, she proposes that instead of focusing on punishment, the similarities between hate crimes and bullying should be used to inform prevention efforts emphasizing tolerance of differences, promotion of positive attitudes toward diversity, and reduction of negative attitudes toward hate-based victimization of children outside of the mainstream ( Englander, 2007). These kinds of intervention and prevention mechanisms often reflect "ecological systems theories" in which "bullying dynamics are seen to extend beyond the children who bully or who are bullied" ( Mishna, 2012, p. 38;see also Swearer & Espelage, 2011). ...
Book
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A critical examination of efforts by social media companies—including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram—to rein in cyberbullying by young users. High-profile cyberbullying cases often trigger exaggerated public concern about children's use of social media. Large companies like Facebook respond by pointing to their existing anti-bullying mechanisms or coordinate with nongovernmental organizations to organize anti-cyberbullying efforts. Do these attempts at self-regulation work? In this book, Tijana Milosevic examines the effectiveness of efforts by social media companies—including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram—to rein in cyberbullying by young users. Milosevic analyzes the anti-bullying policies of fourteen major social media companies, as recorded in companies' corporate documents, draws on interviews with company representatives and e-safety experts, and details the roles of nongovernmental organizations examining their ability to provide critical independent advice. She draws attention to lack of transparency in how companies handle bullying cases, emphasizing the need for a continuous independent evaluation of effectiveness of companies' mechanisms, especially from children's perspective. Milosevic argues that cyberbullying should be viewed in the context of children's rights and as part of the larger social problem of the culture of humiliation. Milosevic looks into five digital bullying cases related to suicides, examining the pressures on the social media companies involved, the nature of the public discussion, and subsequent government regulation that did not necessarily address the problem in a way that benefits children. She emphasizes the need not only for protection but also for participation and empowerment—for finding a way to protect the vulnerable while ensuring the child's right to participate in digital spaces. The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding from Knowledge Unlatched.
... First, youth are at a developmental stage where they are at risk for making poor decisions related to equality and diversity. Due to their potential for fallible judgment, there is also a perception that their bias-motivated behavior is excusable and of the same severity as childish pranks and bullying (e.g., Englander, 2007). The most commonly used typology of bias crime perpetrators includes a category of perpetrators called "thrill-seekers"-most often youth who are merely out for a "good time" beating up others with their friends (Levin & McDevitt, 1993). ...
Article
Most bias crime literature focuses on adults despite the fact that youth account for a large proportion of prejudice-motivated violence. The LA County Commission on Human Relations data for all bias crimes from 2002-2008 was used to examine similarities and differences between adult and youth suspects of bias-motivated crimes. Findings showed youth victims of racial bias crimes were 12 times more likely to be targeted by youth suspects and over five times more likely to commit property offenses. Public places were nearly three times more likely than resident places to be the location of the bias crime by youth suspects. Female perpetrators of racial bias crimes were two times more likely to be youths. Implications of the findings are discussed.
... This is also widely reported in the mass media. Some have construed these acts as a form of hate crime or discrimination (Englander, 2007;Shin, D'Antonio, Son, Kim, & Park, 2011). Specifically, behaviors that involve bullying due to a student's gender, sexual orientation, race, age, or religion (Robinson & Espelage, 2011) are commonly understood as more severe actions worthy of expulsion within schools and criminal action outside of schools. ...
Article
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This study explored discriminatory bullying among military-connected students (n = 14,512) attending secondary public schools. Compared to respondents with no military connection, participants with a parent in the military reported higher rates of discrimination based on race/ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and physical/mental disability. Increasing number of deployments in the past 10 years was associated with increased likelihood of discrimination in all the models. The findings provide evidence that military-connected students feel bullied and discriminated against for a variety of reasons and that as the number of deployments increased, military-connected students’ reports of discriminatory bullying experiences increased as well.
... The strategies used to challenge school bullying, therefore, aim at empowering individuals and create respect for individual difference. This is consistent with research that recommends programmes to focus on encouraging recognition of difference (Englander, 2007). ...
Article
Purpose Social media provides a platform for people to connect, communicate and share their opinions, and has become a powerful gizmo for freedom of expression as well as freedom of speech. The present study intends to examine the role of social media in instigating hateful thoughts, actions among youth and eventually leading them towards hate speech. Design/methodology/approach Mixed methods were adopted to achieve the objectives, where survey (quantitative) and focus group discussions (qualitative) were carried out. The students who participated were from different universities, campuses and faith-based schools in Indonesia. They were recruited through online and offline sources where they showed their interest in participating in this study. Participants were 19–30 years old. Data was analysed by deploying the narrations, thematic (based on themes), and univariate analysis. Findings In the present research, three attributes of hate speech were investigated, such as form of expression, discrimination and identity factors. The findings of the study show that the prevalence of hate speech among youth in Indonesia is associated with their belongingness to political ideology, identity, nationality and ethnicity. Social implications The objective is to examine the prevalence and nature of hate speech among youth in Indonesia, identify the factors and reasons for engaging in hate speech and assess the potential impacts of hate speech. Originality/value This research attempts to analyse the role of social media in shaping the mindset of the youth towards hate speech, which ultimately leads to delinquency.
Chapter
Bullying is a socially and culturally complex phenomenon that until now has largely been understood in the context of the individual. This book challenges the dominance of this approach, examining the processes of extreme exclusion that are enacted in bullying - whether at school, through face-to-face meetings or virtual encounters - in the context of group dynamics. Contributors draw upon qualitative empirical studies, mixed methods and statistics, to analyse the elements that allow bullying to emerge - the processes that produce exclusion and contempt, and the relations between children, teachers and parents. Introducing a new definition of bullying, this book goes on to discuss directions for future research and action, including more informed intervention strategies and re-thinking methods of prevention. Exploring bullying in the light of the latest research from a wide variety of disciplines, this book paves the way for a new paradigm through which to understand the field.
Chapter
This chapter focuses on how hate crime is conceptualized in America. Hate crime is deconstructed into two components – bias motivation and criminal offenses – and discussion is provided for how each component is conceptualized. We begin by explaining what bias motivation entails and how it is legally defined. Bias motivation categories are distinguished from bias types, and definitions are provided for the bias motivation categories recognized by the Hate Crime Statistics Act (1990). The conceptualization of bias motivation relevant to perception and association is addressed along with the idea of intersectionality or multiple bias. Regarding the crime component of hate crimes, we clarify the difference between bias incidents and hate crime. Examples of how criminal behaviors are defined as hate crimes are provided, and offenses common to hate crime identified and described. We discuss how there can be different victim types depending upon the type of hate crime committed. The chapter is concluded by showing how hate crime can be cross-classified or misclassified with other types of criminal behaviors. The topics covered in this chapter are designed to provide foundational knowledge for the conceptualization of hate crime and how this translates to its measurement.
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This investigation summarizes existing research on peer mediation outcomes in school-based settings. The meta-analytic review examines the outcomes associated with incorporating a mediation program to manage school conflict. Results indicate a 93 percent agreement rate and that 88 percent of the participants were satisfied with the agreements reached. The review answers critics and demonstrates the value of school-based mediation programs.
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In this third edition of Understanding Violence, Elizabeth Kandel Englander draws on contemporary research and theory in varied fields to present a uniquely balanced, integrated, and readable summary of what we currently know about the causes and effects of violence, particularly its effect on children. The goal of this textbook is to give a critical review of the most relevant and important areas of research on street and family violence, examining why it is that people become violent. Between 1994 and 2004 the United States benefited from a dramatic decline in rates of violent crime. However, as the economy has weakened in recent years and tougher times have returned, the crime rate has shown signs of a modest increase. Understanding Violence comes at this important juncture. The text is arranged into two sections, one of which focuses on broader issues, and another centering on specific types of abuse.
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Children's experiences of disability: A positive outlook
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Spare the bully and spoil the school. Keynote presentation at the conference of the National Association of Social Workers
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Parents' role in bullying prevention and intervention
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