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The month of October is a very important month to remember all of the people we’ve lost to cyberbullying and teen suicide. Yet we should also be cognizant of how far we’ve come in regard to making changes to some of our state laws to help improve the conditions for our children and prevent bullying from happening in our schools systems as well as outside of school. However, we all still have a long way to go.
In an article from CNN New York looks to ‘modernize’ cyberbullying laws by first, the laws would incorporate cyberbullying into the category of third-degree stalking, a class A misdemeanor. “This behavior is identified as a course of conduct using electronic communications that is likely to cause a fear of harm, or emotional distress to a person under the age of 21,” said a report issued by the Independent Democratic Conference this month.
Second, “bullycide” would be categorized as second-degree manslaughter, a class C felony. “This is defined as when a person engages in cyberbullying and intentionally causes the victim of such offense to commit suicide,” the report said.
Legislators still have a ways to go. Don’t forget to tweet #MakeALawForJamey to help encourage lawmakers to make laws to help prevent teen suicides from happening.
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