Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior that is intentional, hurtful, (physical and psychological), and/or threatening and persistent (repeated). There is an imbalance of strength (power and dominance).
The above definition includes the following criteria that will help you determine if a student is being bullied:Physical Bullying (a few examples)
- Hitting, slapping, elbowing, shouldering (slamming someone with your shoulder)
- Shoving in a hurtful or embarrassing way
- Kicking
- Taking, stealing, damaging or defacing belongings or other property
- Restraining
- Pinching
- Flushing someone’s head in the toilet
- Cramming someone into his or her locke
- Attacking with spit wads or food
- Name-calling
- Insulting remarks and put-downs
- Repeated teasing
- Racist remarks or other harassment
- Threats and intimidation
- Whispering behind someone’s back
Social/Relational (a few examples)
- Destroying and manipulating relationships (turning your best friend against you)
- Destroying status within a peer group
- Destroying reputations
- Humiliation and embarrassment
- Intimidation
- Gossiping, spreading nasty and malicious rumors and lies about someone
- Hurtful graffiti
- Excluding someone from a group (social rejection or isolation)
- Stealing boyfriends or girlfriends to hurt someone
- Negative body language (facial expressions, turning your back to someone)
- Threatening gestures, taunting, pestering, insulting remarks and gestures
- Glares and dirty looks, nasty jokes, notes passed around, anonymous notes
- Hate petitions (promising to hate someone)
- Cyber bullying: negative text messages on cell phones, e-mail, or voice-mail messages, Web pages, and so on Direct and indirect forms of bullying often occur together. All of these behaviors can be interrelated.
This subject has been heavily on my heart and I have felt hopeless in the ability to do something significant to combat bullying and save lives. Our children are our future. We need to do more to mold their character. That is why I believe we need to start a movement for a much stronger stand against bullying and educate people on the consequences of their actions and the level of responsibility they carry.
Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as: 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion"; or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. Second-degree murder may best be viewed as the middle ground between first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.
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