Stop Hazing and Bullying

Michael Britton, Co-Director and Co-Coordinator

Harsh Agarwal, Co-Director and Co-Coordinator

Floyd Webster Rudmin, Co-Director and Co-Coordinator

HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world.

To promote the vision of a world of equal dignity for all, away from practices of humiliation, we have to build new kinds of relationships, free from hazing an bullying, locally and globally.

Bullying and its possible consequences

Eight troops die in Korea rampage (19th June, 2005)
The BBC's Charles Scanlon says there are frequent reports of bullying and violence against conscripts in South Korea's 600,000-man army.
The 22-year-old soldier, identified as Kim Dong-min, threw a grenade and then fired at fellow soldiers while they slept, the defence ministry said.
A spokesman said Private Kim had suffered "verbal violence and molesting" from a senior officer. The soldier's platoon commander was among those killed in the attack.
Please read a full description here.

Boy, 15, held on suspicion of killing parents, then torching dorm (23rd June, 2005) TOKYO — A 15-year-old high school student was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of killing his parents, who were found dead Monday in their living quarters at a dormitory for construction company employees in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward where the father worked as a caretaker, police said.
Please read a full description here.

NHK News, 22nd June 2005 (monitored by Lindner): The boy said to the police that he was "mentally abused" by his father.

The Japan Times Online, Thursday, June 23, 2005:
"According to police, the teen has basically confessed.
'I thought I'd kill my father because he'd made fun of me,' he was quoted as saying. 'My mother was always doing hard chores and I felt sorry for her. She'd said she wanted to die, so I killed her.'
According to police, he said he regretted his actions."
Please read the full article here.

Links

Please note that the entire HumanDHS website is maintained by volunteers, since its inception in 2003, and this is mainly done by Evelin Lindner. Until 2012, she usually pasted interesting news into this Links section. From July 2012 until 2017, she tagged interesting information on delicious.com. From 2017 onward, you see Evelin's personal list of interesting web links on Twitter: Follow @evelinlindner

The Tyler Clementi Foundation
Jane Clementi co-founded the Tyler Clementi Foundation alongside husband Joe because she wants to make sure that our society learns the consequences of discrimination and bullying, as she learned all too personally through the loss of her son. A native of New Jersey and devoted mother of three sons, Jane speaks passionately to parents and community leaders about the need to not merely "accept" or "tolerate" children who come out as LGBT, but to embrace them as wondrous creations of God. Jane, a registered nurse, speaks on the need for parents of LGBT children to come out and speak openly of the love they have for their children, and in doing so each one of us can impact the world around us and create accepting environments. Since losing Tyler, Jane's spiritual journey has continued to carry and transform her in ways she never would have imagined. She left her church home of many years because she felt that while sitting in the pews of a church that condemned LGBT people she was herself a bystander to bullying. Jane leads an inspirational life through her unique experience which she shares with other parents, and speaks passionately about the need to divorce the concept of "sin" from homosexuality. She has made difficult choices in an impossible situation, and leads by example. She has spoken out in support of LGBT rights and the need for families and communities to embrace their LGBT populations. Jane has spoken at BNP Paribas Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a variety of universities including The College of New Jersey, high schools and churches.

Inequality damages family life by higher rates of child abuse, and increased status competition is likely to explain the higher rates of bullying confirmed in schools in more unequal countries.
Due, Pernille, Juan Merlo, Yossi Harel-Fisch, Mogens Trab Damsgaard, Bjørn E. Holstein, Mag scient soc, et al. (2009). "Socioeconomic inequality in exposure to bullying during adolescence: A comparative, cross-sectional, multilevel study in 35 countries." American Journal of Public Health, 99 (5), pp. 907-14, doi: 10.2105/AJPH.008.139303:
Objectives. We examined the socioeconomic distribution of adolescent exposure to bullying internationally and documented the contribution of the macroeconomic environment. Methods. We used an international survey of 162 305 students aged 11, 13, and 15 years from nationally representative samples of 5998 schools in 35 countries in Europe and North America for the 2001–2002 school year. The survey used standardized measures of exposure to bullying and socioeconomic affluence. Results. Adolescents from families of low affluence reported higher prevalence of being victims of bullying (odds ratio [OR] = 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.10, 1.16). International differences in prevalence of exposure to bullying were not associated with the economic level of the country (as measured by gross national income) or the school, but wide disparities in affluence at a school and large economic inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) at the national level were associated with an increased prevalence of exposure to bullying. Conclusions. There is socioeconomic inequality in exposure to bullying among adolescents, leaving children of greater socioeconomic disadvantage at higher risk of victimization. Adolescents who attend schools and live in countries where socioeconomic differences are larger are at higher risk of being bullied.

First Week Blues, by Jesse Greenslade, 2015
A children’s book on bullying.
We thank Brian Ward for making us aware of Jesse Greenslade's work.

Monica Lewinsky on the Internet's Reputation Shredder
At 41, Monica Lewinsky is the first person to ever have been publicly shamed on the Internet. Now, she is committed to helping those abused online. Published on 20 Oct 2014. A powerful witness account of how to be "humiliated to death"...

Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied
• Copeland, William Everett, Dieter Wolke, Adrian Angold, and E. Jane Costello (2013). Adult Psychiatric Outcomes of Bullying and Being Bullied by Peers in Childhood and Adolescence. In Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry, 70 (4), pp. 419-26, doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.504.
• Copeland, William E., Dieter Wolke, Suzet Tanya Lereya, Lilly Shanahan, Carol Worthman, and E. Jane Costello (2014). Childhood Bullying Involvement Predicts Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation into Adulthood. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 12, 2014: "The effects of being bullied are direct, pleiotropic, and long-lasting, with the worst effects for those who are both victims and bullies" p. 1.
• Tucker, Corinna Jenkins, David Finkelhor, Heather Turner, and Anne Shattuck (2013). Association of Sibling Aggression with Child and Adolescent Mental Health. In Pediatrics, published online June 17, 2013, doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-3801.

PROJECT ROCKIT
PROJECT ROCKIT was launched in 2006 by Rosie and Lucy Thomas, two Melbournian sisters who saw the opportunity to build youth leadership, citizenship and resilience by tackling the issue of bullying in school communities. To put it simply: We want to build a space where imagination, leadership, creative expression and acceptance are available to all young people, regardless of social labels. We thank Tijana Milosevic for making us aware of this organisation.

"Bullying: A Call to Action for an Education in Emotions"
In Huffington Post, by Diana Divecha Ph. D. and Robin Stern Ph.D.
Two Florida girls aged 12 and 14 were arrested and charged with felony counts of aggravated stalking for allegedly bullying their schoolmate Rebecca Sedwick. After a year of malicious verbal attacks both online and off, including instructions to "Drink bleach and die," the seventh grader ended her own life by jumping from a tower in a cement factory.
Read more on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

How Great Teachers Can Identify and Prevent Bullying in Schools
by Amy Leeson, April 21, 2012
Bullies and their victims often cannot be recognized by teachers, but students know who they are. Many studies over the past several years have revealed how teachers and parents can recognize bullies. Some of these observations include some work, such as surveys among students and listening to "self-reported" bullies talk about their exploits and to victims as they share their plights. But, the bullying doesn't stop there, as recent reports show that teachers also can be the bullies. Learn more about how bullying is defined, and what teachers and other authority figures can do about reducing this behavior across the board in schools.
Read more at http://onlinedegreesineducation.org/

The Kandersteg Declaration, 2007, Against Bullying
We the participants at the Joint Efforts Against Victimization Conference in Kandersteg/Switzerland in June 8th to 10th, 2007 pledge our long term commitment and determination to promote healthy relationships and prevent bullying and victimization in children and youth.
• Today, an estimated 200 million children and youth around the world are being abused bytheir peers.
• Every child and youth has the right to be respected and safe. Bullying is a violation of thisbasic human right.
• It is the moral responsibility of adults to ensure these rights are honored and that healthydevelopment and citizenship are promoted. Many adults want more understanding andstrategies to address bullying problems effectively.
• Bullying is a form of aggression, involving the abuse of power in relationships. It is recognizedglobally as a complex and serious problem. It has many faces, including the use of emergingtechnologies, and varies by age, gender, and culture.
• Children and youth involved in bullying suffer. Bullying and victimization problems begin earlyin life and for some last a lifetime.
• Many risk and protective factors associated with bullying are known and preventionprograms are being implemented in several countries with encouraging results.
• The mental and physical health, social, and academic consequences of bullying have anenormous impact on human and social capital. The costs of bullying burden our education,health care, social services, and criminal justice systems, as well as work force productivityand innovation.
• Bullying concerns and affects us all.
Actions to be taken:
• Stop bullying now in all the places where children and youth live, work, and play.
• Start prevention efforts early and continue these through childhood and adolescence,targeting known risk and protective factors and promoting healthy relationships.
• Educate and empower all adults involved with children and youth to promote healthyrelationships and prevent bullying.
• Use policy and prevention programs, based on scientific research, that are appropriate forage, gender, and culture, and that involve families, peers, schools, and communities.
• Provide ongoing assessment and monitoring necessary to evaluate the success of policy and programs and to guarantee the rights of children and youth.

Bullying & Lateral Violence (Australia, Aboriginal Culture)
Lateral violence is a term that describes "a form of bullying that includes gossip, shaming and blaming others, backstabbing and attempts to socially isolate others." It is directed sideways ('lateral') meaning the aggressors are your peers, often people in powerless positions. Other terms include 'work place bullying' and 'horizontal violence'. Read more: http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/bullying-and-lateral-violence.html#ixzz1ObQU8VxN. We thank Michael Perlin for drawing our attention to this website.

CURE
CURE is a non-profit organisation dedicated solely towards the elimination of ragging and promotion of more positive ways of interaction among seniors and freshers in Indian universities. CURE was started by two students in the year 2001 under the banner of The NoRagging Group. They started with a Discussion group, and an informative website.
The Cure Team includes Harsh Agarwal.

To Mayor Bloomberg: Stop the Bullying by Carol Smaldino
...
Meanwhile our kids continue to be bullied by the expectations of a dysfunctional system that fails to teach. They witness the bullying of their teachers by politicians and unions trying to score easy points in the media. They watch an endless supply of bullying in reality TV and video games. Are we honestly shocked that they are playing out these images among their peers?...
Please read the entire text on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-smaldino/dear-mayor-bloomberg-the-_b_752348.html.

Special Issue on Bullying
The Journal of the International Ombudsman Association (JIOA) is a peer-reviewed online journal for scholarly articles and information relevant to the ombudsman profession. The latest issue has articles on bullying. Access is free.
See http://www.ombudsassociation.org/publications/journal/JIOAVolume3No2October2010Final.pdf.

Friends
Friends is a Swedish idealistic organization founded in 1997 that fights against bullying and discrimination. They strive for all youths right to grow up in safety and equality. They educate those who are close to children – school staff, sports leaders, parents and other children – at schools, pre-schools and sports associations around Sweden. The goal is for them to learn how to work actively and long-term against violation, discrimination and bullying. They communicate that everyone can use their own possibilities to influence in a positive direction and that great changes can be made when joined together.

The International Network of School Violence Newsletters (English Edition)
Number 6: http://www.iacrianca.pt/images/stories/pdfs/observatorio_internacional/newsletter_6_eng.pdf Number 5: http://www.iacrianca.pt/images/stories/pdfs/observatorio_internacional/newsletter_5_eng.pdf Number 4 (in press).
Number 3: http://www.iacrianca.pt/images/stories/pdfs/observatorio_internacional/newsletter_3_eng.pdf Number 2: http://www.iacrianca.pt/images/stories/pdfs/observatorio_internacional/newsletter_2_eng.pdf Number 1: http://www.iacrianca.pt/images/stories/pdfs/observatorio_internacional/newsletter_1_eng.pdf

Psychology Behind Ragging by Harsh Agarwal
Paper presented at the seminar “Legal Awareness Programme on Anti-Ragging” in the session “Understanding Psychology Behind Ragging” chaired by the acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, organised by the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA), in the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (VPCI) Auditorium, New Delhi, India, 20th March 2010

Here There Be Monsters
Monday 08 February 2010
William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t Op-Ed
Yet every distance is not near. So I remember every face Of every man who put me here. – Bob Dylan, "I Shall Be Released" I have a livid scar in the center of the back of my right hand. It is clearly visible, so I see it every day, and every time I see it, I am reminded of how I got it. One day, several boys in my junior high school class grabbed me and pinned me to the floor. They extended my right arm and held my hand flat to the floor. One of them took out a pencil and began violently rubbing it against the skin of that hand, until the skin broke, until little balls of my flesh stuck to the eraser, until the blood poured.
Read more at http://www.truthout.org/here-there-be-monsters56756.

References by Michael Greene (February 27, 2010)
There are different types of bullying and with the possible exception of cyberbullying the empirical literature is overwhelmingly clear that internalizing problems result from bullying victimization. The proportion of so-called bully-victims is quite small, usually estimated at around 5% and they are at elevated risk of suicidal ideation as well as higher rates of proactive aggression as compared to what are termed pure bullies and pure victims. The literature spans many countries and cultures and the results as stated above are amazingly consistent. I would be glad to provide numerous references and meta-analytic studies and reviews that back up these points. With regard to the rampage school shootings, the review by the Department of Education and the Secret Service, which studied this matter, did find that about 70 percent of the perpetrators had been bullied. Nevertheless, the numbers are very small as indicated by the fact that the number of adolescent homicides outside of school shootings is roughly 100 times greater and the fact that hundred of thousands of kids who are bullied do not engage in rampage shootings. We simply cannot render any sound conclusions based on such a rare event as school shootings. Finally, it is not sound to compare the phenomenon of bullying with mass murders and genocide. The dynamics and characteristics may have some very superficial similarities but they are very distinct phenomenon based are consensus characteristics and dynamics of each.
• Brunstein Klomek, A. P. D., Marrocco, F. P. D., Kleinman, M. M. S., Schonfeld, I. S. P. D. M. P. H., & Gould, M. S. P. D. M. P. H. (2007). Bullying, Depression, and Suicidality in Adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 46(1), 40-49.
• Arseneault, L., Walsh, E., Trzesniewski, K., Newcombe, R., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2006). Bullying victimization uniquely contributes to adjustment problems in young children: a nationally representative cohort study. Pediatrics, 118(1), 130-138.
Hawker, D. S., & Boulton, M. J. (2000). Twenty years' research on peer victimization and psychosocial maladjustment: A meta-analytic review of cross-sectional studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41(4), 441-455.
• Espelage, D. L., & Holt, M. K. (2001). Bullying and victimization during early adolescence: Peer influences and psychosocial correlates. In (pp. (2001). Bullying behavior: Current issues, research, and interventions. (pp. 2123-2142). xiii, 2200). Binghamton, NY: Haworth Maltreatment and Trauma Press/The Haworth Press.
• Griffin, R. S., & Gross, A. M. (2004). Childhood bullying: Current empirical findings and future directions for research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 9(4), 379-400.
• Klomek, A. B., Sourander, A., Kumpulainen, K., Piha, J., Tamminen, T., Moilanen, I., et al. (2008). Childhood bullying as a risk for later depression and suicidal ideation among Finnish males. Journal of Affective Disorders, In Press, Corrected Proof.
• Fekkes, M., Pijpers, F. I. M., Fredriks, A. M., Vogels, T., & Verloove-Vanhorick, S. P. (2006). Do Bullied Children Get Ill, or Do Ill Children Get Bullied? A Prospective Cohort Study on the Relationship Between Bullying and Health-Related Symptoms. Pediatrics, 117(5), 1568-1574.
• Veenstra, R., Lindenberg, S., Oldehinkel, A. J., De Winter, A. F., Verhulst, F. C., & Ormel, J. (2005). Bullying and Victimization in Elementary Schools: A Comparison of Bullies, Victims, Bully/Victims, and Uninvolved Preadolescents. Developmental Psychology, 41(4), 672-682.
• Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R. S., Ruan, W. J., Simons-Morton, B., & Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying behaviors among US youth: prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment.[see comment]. JAMA, 285(16), 2094-2100.
• Bond, L., Carlin, J. B., Thomas, L., Rubin, K., & Patton, G. (2001). Does bullying cause emotional problems? A prospective study of young teenagers. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 323(7311), 480-484.
• Sweeting, H., Young, R., West, P., & Der, G. (2006). Peer victimization and depression in early-mid adolescence: A longitudinal study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(3), 577-594.

The Bullying Project
The department for Mental Health, Law and Ethics, at the International Center for Health, Law and Ethics, took it upon itself to promote the professional discussion regarding bullying at workplace as well as during army service, as an ethical, mental and legal subject of discussion. 1. The first conference ever to be held in Israel on the matter took place at the Israeli Bar Association in Haifa, on 18/6/2008. Please read more at http://www.ichle.com/87091/BullyingProject.

Czech Move to Stop Cyber Bullying
The Czech education ministry has drawn up guidelines for teachers to halt the spread of cyber bullying in schools. Some Czech children have attempted to blackmail teachers or classmates by posting video clips of them on the internet, a ministry spokesman said. Tomas Bouska told BBC News that the guidelines offered schools more options than simply confiscating mobile phones or banning their use during classes...
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7804617.stm.

Army Trainers 'Bullied Recruits'
Young recruits at Britain's biggest army base have been bullied during their training, the BBC has found. An undercover reporter who spent months at Catterick Garrison in North Yorks uncovered evidence of physical abuse. Five training instructors have been suspended. The head of the Army said "robust training" was fine, but bullying was unacceptable. The incidents came despite promised changes after four recruits died after bullying at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7623567.stm.

Bullyproof
by Arthur Kanegis, Founder, Future WAVE, Inc.
Future WAVE surveyed the field of conflict resolution, condensed the various concepts into ten key "shields" and developed them into a simple easy-to-remember acronym: BULLYPROOF. Future WAVE made each letter stand for an animal character demonstrating a more powerful tool than violence. Then they developed BULLYPROOF SHIELD puppet shows and plays to make learning those ten steps easy, fun and entertaining.

Educational Equality
Bullying's Effects on Equal Educational Opportunity
by Douglas E. Abrams
In: Our Promise: Achieving Educational Equality For America's Children, Carolina Academic Press, 2008, University of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2008-21
Abstract: This paper outlines a coordinated public response to bullying, including cyber bullying, in the nation's public schools. Pediatric professionals have long recognized bullying as a form of child abuse, perpetrated by other children rather than by adults. With recent national surveys confirming that bullying in school has reached epidemic proportions, the American Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health now identify it as a public health crisis.
An effective response to bullying summons all components of the pediatric safety system, the public network charged with protecting children from physical and emotional harm. The network extends primarily to the schools, the juvenile and criminal courts, the child protective agency and perhaps the mental health agency, and law enforcement.
The new frontier is cyber bullying, which pediatric professionals now identify as a risk factor contributing to childhood and adolescent suicide. News headlines reporting suicides show that a few keystrokes can inflict hurt even more severe than fists or playground confrontations because Internet postings can hound the victim around the clock and off the campus.
After measuring the devastating immediate and lasting damage that school bullying can inflict on its participants (the bullied, the bystanders and the bullies themselves), this paper stresses the need for effective bullying prevention programs in the schools. The paper describes the reported effectiveness of rigorously evaluated programs, and analyzes the shortcomings in state legislation that requires schools to maintain anti-bullying policies.
Finally, the paper explores the central roles that the various members of the pediatric safety system play, consistent with First Amendment constraints, in the effort to prevent bullying and react firmly to incidents that occur. The paper presents public strategies that comply with constitutional guidelines.
This paper will be published in Our Promise: Achieving Educational Equality For America's Children, a book which the Carolina Academic Press will publish in the summer of 2008, edited by Maurce R. Dyson, and Daniel B. Weddle
Summary: This edited volume provides a thought-provoking collection of papers by expert legal scholars and serves as a reminder of the extensive work that is yet to be accomplished in the evaluation of educational policy. The authors encourage us to take a second look at the research surrounding the topics of equality in education and urge us to examine the benchmarks of progress so as to gauge next steps and possible new directions in educational achievement. In a sense, this is a compilation of works that serve as a reminder that the nation's growth and its history will be measured not by its crepuscular and steganographic support of educating a select few in education, but, instead, by establishing the bright light of accountability and our commitment to every student by advocating for the full embodiment of equality in education.— Excerpt from the Foreword by Philip T.K. Daniel, J.D., Ed.D., William and Marie Flesher Professor of Educational Administration, Adjunct Professor of Law, The Ohio State University.

Russia Army Suicides Cause Alarm
Almost an entire battalion of Russian soldiers committed suicide last year, the country's chief military prosecutor has said. A total of 341 military personnel killed themselves in 2007, a reduction of 15% on the previous year. But Sergei Fridinsky said the numbers were worrying and called for a national strategy to prepare men for service. Bullying, often extremely violent, is rife in the army and is the most common reason for suicide...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7425694.stm.

Facebook Agrees Child Safety Plan
By Maggie Shiels
BBC technology reporter, Silicon Valley
Facebook is to add a slew of new safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyber bullies. At the heart of the changes are efforts to ban convicted sex offenders from the site and finding better ways to verify users' ages and identities. The agreement was announced by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in a deal along with other attorneys general around America...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7391170.stm.

Babes in Arms Help Stop Bullying
by Lane Nichols, in The Dominion Post
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
A project to foster empathy in children and reduce bullying by putting newborn babies in classrooms is to be introduced in Wellington next year...
Please read more at http://wwwstuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4290410a6000.html.

Nasjonal konferanse om mobbing
For å kunne bekjempe mobbing på arbeidsplassene, er det nødvendig med kunnskap, gode verktøy og atferdsendringer.
Prosjektet Jobbing uten mobbing har jobbet i tre år med å utvikle gode verktøy, og vi har samarbeidet med dyktige arbeidslivsforskere for å få mer kunnskap om mobbing og psykososialt arbeidsmiljø. På denne nasjonale konferansen om mobbing vil de ulike foredragsholderne gi deltakerne et godt faglig påfyll, som i sin tur vil kunne føre til debatter og atferdsendringer på arbeidsplassene.

6th International Conference on Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace
In June 2008 the "6th International Conference on Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace" will take place in Montreal Canada. The conference follows those highly successfull conferecens in London (2002), Bergen (2004) and Dublin (2006).

Fight Cyberbullies, Schools Told
Schools are being given guidance urging them to take firm action against pupils who use mobile phones and the internet to bully other children and teachers.
More than a third of 12 to 15-year-olds have faced some kind of cyberbullying, according to a government study. Ministers are also launching an awareness campaign on the social networking sites used by many pupils. Schools have been told they can confiscate mobile phones and how to get hurtful material pulled from websites.
Read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/education/7005389.stm.

Teachers in Websites Closure Call
Teachers have called for websites such as YouTube to be shut down as part of efforts to prevent pupils and staff being bullied. Delegates at the conference of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) said bullying can continue outside school and work hours. They said bullies can send abusive text messages or e-mails to victims. A spokesman for the website YouTube said the vast majority of people used the site responsibly. At the PAT annual conference in Harrogate, delegates heard that bullies have posted mobile phone videos on websites, showing teachers as well as pupils being attacked or humiliated...
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/6925444.stm.

Stan Davis
Stan Davis runs a popular bullying website Stop Bullying. Stan has worked for Human Rights in many different ways. Stan has worked as a social worker in private practice and as a guidance counselor and consultant in high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools, supporting young people of all ages and the adults who care for them, for the last 30 years. Since the mid-1990s he has put his energies toward helping schools prevent bullying. Stan Davis has trained schools all over the United States. His strategies are part of state-wide initiatives in Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia. Stan’s work has been featured in national newspaper and radio articles and on a special 20/20 report on bullying with John Stossel. He is the author of the 2004 book Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies to Reduce Bullying. His trainings integrate research, practical experience, specific techniques, storytelling, magic, and audience participation. The website identifies and provides access to high quality resources that educators and others have found of assistance in preventing bullying. The website provides various education material and information to prevent bullying. It also highlights the need to end bullying and how to identify this problem.

NJ Bullying
NJ Bullying or New Jersey Coalition was stated in 2000, (post-Columbine) when there were no existing statewide coalitions or non-profit organizations concerned with bullying and New Jersey had not yet held a statewide conference specifically addressing bullying. NJ Bullying aims to increase community awareness of bullying as a common serious problem of school-age children and to advocate for the implementation of effective bullying prevention approaches in the State of New Jersey. The main objectives of the coalition are:
(i) to encourage all adults, especially parents and all members of school communities, to advocate for and help implement school-based bullying prevention programs
(ii) to promote awareness of the most effective approaches to bullying prevention
(iii) to advocate for increased funding for bullying-related research and prevention
(iv) to support school-based bullying prevention initiatives through legislation, public policy, community-wide education and program development.

Cyber-Bullying Gathers Pace in US
One third of US online teenagers have been victims of cyber-bullying according to research by the Pew Internet Project.
The most common complaint from teens was about private information being shared rather than direct threats.
Girls were more likely than boys to be targets and teens who share their identities online are the most vulnerable, the survey found.
But teenagers still think that the majority of bullying happens offline...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/6245798.stm.

Paul Potts: Somebody coming out of bullying ...
A very hands-on example of the healing that is entailed when a person comes out of bullying and humiliation, out of feeling insignificant and a nobody, into dignity, is the recent emergence of Paul Potts as a singer. Watch him on YouTube, see how the faces of the jury members change from skepticism to astonishment, then to awe and wonderment. Watch how the singer’s voice and face expresses a mixture of love and warm humility. Read the blogs and see how people appreciate Potts’s ability to convey something that is beyond this Earth, and how lacking technical proficiency or less than comme-il-faut outfit is of no importance. He does not sing for money and not even for the love of singing – he seems to have a love relationship with beauty that is so majestic that it seems to come from outer space and at the same time from the deep wisdom of his soul that transcends pain through this beauty.
See "Paul Potts reveals he considered suicide," and see, for example, this blog at http://theologica.blogspot.com/2007/06/paul-potts.html:
"I did listen to Pavarotti sing Nessun Dorma and was not moved, in fact I shut if off as he and his singing was boring. No emotion. As for technical defects of Paul Potts singing... who cares? His performance made the hairs on my back stand up... Paul Potts may start a new genre of music which is long overdue..."
YouTube is overflowing of Paul Potts, see, among others:
First, have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA !
Then see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-Pv-0vpxSc
Then see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbzRJqe1X-o
Finally see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OvFbMSNw2c .
And read about his coming out of humiliation into dignity.

Pollack and the Boy Code - A review by Pandora Hopkins of William Pollack's Real Boys
Pollack, William S. (1999). Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood. New York, NY: Henry Holt & Company.

Bullying and Hazing Among Norwegian Army Soldiers: Two Studies of Prevalence, Context, and Cognition
By Floyd Rudmin and Kristina Ostvik (2001)
In Military Psychology, 2001, 13 (1), 17-39

Report: Deprived of Dignity: Degrading Treatment and Abusive Discipline in New York City And Los Angeles Public Schools
A report by NESRI shows that middle and high school students in New York City and Los Angeles are frequently ignored and mistreated in their classrooms, and subjected to harsh discipline policies that punish, exclude and criminalize them.
Press Release - New York City and Los Angeles
Press Conference Statement:
The report uses a human rights framework to document the use of suspensions, law enforcement and other punitive disciplinary strategies that ignore students’ educational and emotional needs. Schools with the most repressive policies are overwhelmingly under-resourced, overcrowded and primarily attended by low-income students of color.
The report calls on the Department of Education in NYC and the Los Angeles Unified School District to take a holistic approach to school climate and safety by reducing overcrowding, increasing resources for teachers, and guaranteeing the participation of students and parents. Schools should view discipline and the teaching of behavioral skills as an essential part of education and prioritize counseling and mediation. The criminalization of discipline and use of police in schools must stop.

Conversation Between Harsh Agarwal and Michael Britton on Ragging
What follows are some extracts from a research report on ragging and an evolving conversation between Harsh Agarwal and Michael Britton in 2007 that began with Harsh’s research report on “ragging” in colleges in India.
Introduction: Ragging, hazing, bullying, pledging, fagging etc. are traditional practice of humiliation and human rights abuse taking place in educational institutions all across the world, especially across South Asia.
Harsh has worked with several leading organisations including the United Nations both in India and abroad, and has worked closely with young people from more than 40 different countries. He is a founding member of the youth social organisation called Coalition to Uproot Ragging (Hazing) from Education (CURE)
Michael is a psychologist and member of the Global Core Team of the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Network, and had read a research report Harsh had written on the subject of ragging...
Please read the entire conversation at here.

The New Workplace Institute
The New Workplace Institute is a new non-profit research and education center promoting healthy, productive, socially responsible workplaces. The Institute's founder is David Yamada, a tenured law professor at Suffolk University Law-School and nationally recognized authority on workplace bullying and abusive work environments. Imagining the Good Workplace is the first event of the New Workplace Forum, a series of educational programs underwritten by SuffolkUniversity Law School, whose support is gratefully acknowledged.
Please see Imagining the Good Workplace: It Starts With Individual Dignity, in New Workplace Forum Series, April 24, 2007.

"Healing Circles"
Anti-bullying experts stress that current responses to bullying need to place more attention on parental involvement and family interventions in order to be effective. A "healing circle" addresses that need; it is a transformative process involving all those affected by an incident - stakeholders include both victims and offenders, their peers, parents and the community...
Please read more at http://www.triune.ca/pages/prod/hc.html.

Freedom Writers
Michael Britton writes (April 12, 2007): I saw recently based on a real teacher in the US city of Los Angeles. Her classes, like the entire school, involved a mix of different cultural groups who were in intense conflict with each other: Hispanic, Black, Viet Namese, White, etc. This was at the high school level. She discovered she could not teach anything until she focused on the realities of their seeing each other through such hostile group eyes as enemies, and started using exercises in class that enabled them to discover the sufferings all of them had in common and could empathize with and respect, sufferings based on the poverty and violence of the neighborhoods all of them lived in. She also created a means for them to express their experiences, their pain and their dreams, in a kind of private way at first, through journaling that only she would read, and only if they wanted her to. Which they did. Her approach led to their becoming a good working group together and becoming successful students, and later successful in starting into adult life. The movie is "Freedom Writers." If you are interested to view it and cannot find it available there, I would be happy to find a copy and mail it to you. There is also now a website, as she has created a program to teach teachers her methods.

Russian Soldiers 'Used for Sex'
The Russian military is reported to be investigating claims that army conscripts were forced to work as male prostitutes in St Petersburg.
The command of the interior ministry unit denied the claims made by the Soldiers' Mothers human rights group. The group says it was contacted by a parent of a conscript who had been forced to work as a male prostitute. Last year, an 18-year-old soldier was so badly beaten that he had to have his legs and genitals amputated. The BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says the latest claims follow a series of scandals which have damaged the Russian army's reputation...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/6356707.stm.

Japan Schools to Rethink Beating
Japanese schools should rethink their decades-old ban on corporal punishment, a government-appointed panel has urged. The report, submitted amid growing concern over bullying, stopped short of overtly backing beating, but suggested an end to a policy of leniency. Bullying was found to be involved in 14 of 40 youth suicides from 1999 to 2005 in a country where pupils are also under great pressure to perform well. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called the report "wonderful". He said what was important now was to carry it out, though it could take some time. Alarmed by the trend of bullying deaths, the panel, chaired by the Nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori, urged schools last November to punish classroom bullies and crack down on teachers who ignored the problem. Around the same time, the education ministry received dozens of anonymous letters threatening suicide believed to have been sent from pupils. Japan's education minister had previously denied bullying was a factor in the youth suicide rate. The report urges an end to the recent policy of leniency in schools, which had been initiated in response to the growing pressures on children to get high scores on tests, but which critics blame for a drop in standards. It also suggests increasing class hours, compulsory public service and a switch in the start of the school year from April to the autumn. Since 1947, anything from punishing children by making them stand out in the hall to physically striking them is banned. Elsewhere in the region, China and Taiwan have made corporal punishment illegal in the school system. Globally, 109 countries have banned punishing children by beating them. In the United States, 22 states still allow corporal punishment in schools, and the most recent statistics show more than 300,000 American schoolchildren were physically disciplined between 2002-2003...
Please find more material at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6293849.stm.

StirFry Seminars
Announcing a new program dealing with bullying as it relates to classism, racism, sexism, heterosexism and violence in our schools. John Boiano, the director of Pulse Integration LLC will be partnering with StirFry Seminars to create a National Program to deal with bullying in our schools.
“Bullying, or better termed ‘acts of meanness,’ are played out daily in almost every school across America every day,” says John Boiano a consultant and educational specialist on bullying.
National Statistics Claim:
On any given day approximately 160,000 students skip school for the sole reason of being fearful of getting bullied
57% of students experience or see acts of meanness every week in their school
59% of students know another student that could physically hurt someone
More than 3 million students are victims of bullying each year
60% of bullies in middle school have a criminal record by the age of 24
Internet bullying is the fastest growing type of bullying today, with a majority of the perpetrators being girls.
In one of John’s recent high school No Bullies Allowed™ assembly programs, one student stated, “It’s always there (the bullying). Why don’t the teachers see it?” When the students were asked how they felt about being bullied, the most common answers were about feeling sad, bad, embarrassed, lonely, hurt, angry, rejected, wanting to hurt themselves and others. They also felt there was no one to talk with about it. In a recent study of incarcerated ‘school shooters’ by the Secret Service Agency, all of the school shooters expressed the same feelings of hurt, anger, and wanting to hurt themselves and others. Generally, before a student feels compelled to hurt themselves or to act out violently towards others, there is also a long history of being teased, called names, and feeling isolated and alone.
The fact is that children do not feel safe in their own schools. The top unsafe places in school are: the cafeteria, the bathroom, the hallways, the stairwells and the school bus. John says, “School administrators and staff are continually “surprised” by the student’s answers that come up in our programs. Most of us know of the problems, few of us know how big it actually is.”

Bully Game Dropped from UK Shops
A video game depicting playground violence has been banned from some UK shops.
Bully, known in the UK as Canis Canem Edit, will not be stocked in Currys or PC World.
A spokesman for parent company DSG International said the videogame was not in keeping with its "family-friendly image".
Questions have been asked about the game in the House of Commons and children's charities have condemned it.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/.

UK Government acts on cyber-bullies
The government is publishing guidelines to help schools, parents and pupils tackle the issue of "cyber-bullying".
It comes as the Anti-Bullying Alliance publishes research suggesting that up to one in five pupils has been bullied via the internet or mobile phones.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5210886.stm.

"Bullying" - How to Stop It!
Read this guide published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Blyth-Jex Anti-Bullying Policy, The
Offers a definition, guides in reporting incidents, strategies for dealing with incidents and Recording and the monitoring of bullying.

Bullies 2 Buddies
Dedicated to ending the suffering of victims of teasing and bullying throughout the world.

Bully B'ware
Find stories and articles about bullying. See tips and strategies.

Bully in Sight
Read the review of this book by Tim Field. Learn how to predict, resist, challenge and combat workplace bullying and more.

Bully OnLine - Bullying and Suicide
Browse this resource to understand the relationship between bullying and suicide.

Bully Police
Learn about this watchdog organization, advocating for bullied children.

Bullying
Join this forum devoted to the issue of bullying. Get emotional support.

Bullying Awareness Network (BAN)
Notes that the purpose of this Ottawa, Ontario, organization is to provide information to help people better understand bullying behavior, the consequences, and how it might be prevented.

Cases of Adults Driven to Suicide by Bullying
Read accounts of where adults were pushed tosuicide as a result of being bullied.

Cases of Children Driven to Suicide by Bullying
View this list of children and young people who have lost their life or been driven to suicide because of bullying at school or bullying during their school years.

For Canada Anti Bullying Activists
Read this letter from Laura Chase, a Winnipeg, Manitoba, mother who son was bullied.

Indepth: Bullying - Sticks, stones and bullies
Read this backgrounder offered by Canada's CBC News.

JaredStory.com
Offers details about this young boy who was bullied to the point of suicide. Find helpful resources provided.

Keep Schools Safe
Find common questions about bullying and learn what can be done about bullies or being bullied.

Names Do Hurt
Explore this resource on relational girl-girl bullying.

Pacer Center's Kids Against Bullying
Read stories, poems, great idea and more in this resource designed for children, parents and professionals.

Power of One Foundation
Goal of this organization is to stop the aggressive or bullying behavior that can lead to the violence in schools.

Scotch College Junior School - Policies: Bullying
Read the policies implements by this Australian school against bullying.

SMHAI - Bullying and Suicide
Suicide and Mental Health Association International Offers a selection or resources relating to suicide and bullying.

Stop Bullying Now!
Offers a selection of resource devoted this topic important to both children and adults.

textually.org - Bullying by SMS
Learn about how children and adults can be bullied through text messaging.

WB11.com Bullying and Suicide
Offers an article detailing the serious consequence of bullying. Play the video.

What Children tell us about bullying in schools
Read this article by Dr. Ken Rigby, Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Psychology and an Educational Consultant at the University of South Australia.

What Should Parents and Teachers Know About Bullying?
Discover this guide published by Focus Adolescent Services. Find out who gets bullied.

Army Four 'Not Bullied to Death'
At least three of four recruits who died at Deepcut army barracks probably killed themselves although none was "bullied to death", a report has said.
But Nicholas Blake QC's review found "clear evidence of foul abuse" and a failure to identify potential risks.
The report rejected calls for a public inquiry but recommended an independent Armed Forces ombudsman be appointed to deal with complaints from soldiers.
Relatives of those who died said their fight for a public inquiry would go on.
"Our children signed to serve the country. It's time the country served them," they said in a joint statement.
Please read the entire article on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4856148.stm.

Course on Bullying Prevention
United States Department of Education (USDE) Course on Bullying Prevention - The link to all of the USDE distance learning courses offered at no charge - including bullying prevention and social and emotional learning can be accessed by linking to this URL: http://www.k12coordinator.org/events_online.cfm

Cyber Bullies Haunt Young Online
Bullies are increasingly using the internet to terrorise teenagers outside of school, a survey suggests. More than 10% of UK teenagers said they had been bullied online, while 24% knew a victim, the MSN/YouGov survey found. The increasing popularity of instant messaging services and e-mail among children means bullies can now reach their targets at all hours. Up to half of parents are unaware about online bullying, the survey of 518 children and parents said.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4805760.stm.

Tortured Soldier Flown to Moscow
A Russian conscript who was badly beaten and tortured by fellow soldiers has been flown to an intensive care unit at a military hospital in Moscow. At least six men were involved in the attack on Private Andrei Sychyov, whose injuries were so severe his legs and genitals had to be amputated. The incident took place at the Chelyabinsk Tank Academy in the Ural Mountains on New Year's Eve. More than 6,000 soldiers were victims of abuse last year, the military said...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4691036.stm.

Russian Soldiers Held Over Attack
At least six Russian soldiers have been held after the beating of a conscript, whose injuries were so severe his legs and genitals were amputated...
Please read the entire article at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4651706.stm.

"Family from Hell" Get Life Terms
Four family members and a teenager have been jailed for life for killing a mother they had tortured for months.
"... The court heard she was tortured, insulted and humiliated by the family after she moved in with them in Stockhill, Nottingham, in November 2002..."
Please read the entire article on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4549600.stm.

Pressure on Malaysia Police Chief
Malaysian politicians call for the deputy police chief to quit after he defended a colleague who humiliated a prisoner.
... Musa Hassan defended a police officer who was filmed forcing a female detainee to strip naked and squat repeatedly while holding both ears...
Please read the entire article on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4475122.stm.

Marine 'Bullying' Video Condemned
A film apparently showing a Royal Marine being beaten unconscious has been widely condemned.
...The marine who filmed the alleged fight told the newspaper the ritual had been more than drunken antics and that the protagonists were forced to fight in a humiliating manner...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4475034.stm.

E.L. Hazing Death Leads Police to Alter Policy
Read the full text at Lansing State Journal
In this article the following "hazing facts" are listed:
• 48 percent of high school students who belong to groups reported being subjected to hazing
• 43 percent were subjected to humiliation
• 71 percent of hazed students reported negative consequences, such as emotional, physical, social and academic difficulties
• 25 percent were first hazed before age 13
• Students were most likely to be hazed if they knew an adult who was hazed
Source: "Initiation Rites in American High Schools: A National Survey,'' Alfred (N.Y.) University

4 Fraternity Members Sentenced in Hazing Death
(Sunday, October 30, 2005)
Prosecutors said Matthew Carrington, 21, died of heart failure caused by water intoxication after he and another pledge were ordered to drink water from five-gallon jugs and douse themselves as fans blasted them with cold air in the basement of the now-defunct Chi Tau fraternity.
Read the full text at cnn.com.

Bully OnLine
Bully OnLine is maintained by Tim Field, and has been reorganised subsequent to the publication of his book Bullycide: Death at Playtime (together with Neil Marr). It is a site that intends to help recognise bullying. It aims at helping to understand unpleasant events (at home, at work, at school, and in childhood), and put them into context. According to Field, many traumas, diagnosed or not, are caused by bullying. Bully OnLine focuses on bullying and the related stress, trauma, PTSD and bullying-related suicide.