Legal Responses to Cyberbullying by Children: Old Law or New?
UniSA Student Law Review, Issue 1, pp. 52-61, 2015
10 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2016
Date Written: 2015
Abstract
Cyberbullying presents an old problem in a new form. Advances in technology have often presented new challenges for the law to solve; as Windeyer J observed in 1970, the law marches with other disciplines ‘but in the rear and limping a little.’ One recent challenge has arrived as a result of the expansion of the internet and the ubiquity of social media use among young people and children. Cyberbullying by school children poses significant problems for lawyers and school authorities, as the primary article by Peta Spyrou demonstrates. One of the questions that arises is the adequacy of the law’s responses to these technology powered wrongs. Are existing legal responses sufficient, or do we need to respond more creatively by introducing new legislative remedies? This comment will consider whether the two established legal regimes of tort law and the criminal law can offer a satisfactory response to the problem of cyberbullying, before moving on to outline some innovative legislation introduced recently by the governments of Australia and New Zealand. It suggests that the law of torts is not currently equipped to deal directly with many of the problems caused by cyberbullying and argues that using the weight of the criminal law is not always an appropriate response to wrongs committed by school children. It concludes that the recent legislative initiatives can offer a more efficient, effective and restorative response.
Keywords: cyberbullying, school children, tort law, criminal law
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation