Nashville, Tennessee — A new law in Tennessee goes into effect on July 1 that makes bullying and cyberbullying official crimes and makes sure they are dealt with the same way as harassment.
Language in the law says that the amendment, HB 2590, makes bullying and cyberbullying part of the offense of harassment. If the victim is a child, police will have to tell the victim’s parents or guardians about the bullying at school.
“There’s a huge amount of shame that comes from being bullied,” said Rodger Dinwiddie, CEO of Students Taking A Right Stand (STARS) Nashville.
Dinwiddie makes sure that kids and teens in schools and communities have equal access to prevention, intervention, and treatment services through STARS Nashville. Dinwiddie says that between 17 and 20 percent of teens and young adults are regularly bullied, either as the bully or as the target, or sometimes both.
Dinwiddie told News Channel 11’s sister station in Nashville that most of the time, schools already have to tell parents when there is bullying, so the new law probably won’t make a big difference there. However, he is worried that making bullying and trolling Class A misdemeanors might make school officials less likely to report them.
“It is required by Tennessee code annotated that administrators and/or their designee report bullying when it happens,” Dinwiddie said. “I hope that doesn’t stop them because they could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor and get a $2,500 fine.”
Dinwiddie also said that he would have liked to see some educational and preventative measures in the change. However, he thinks that making bullying and cyberbullying Class A misdemeanors would stop bullies from bullying in the first place because of how harsh the punishments are.
“Right now, the consequences for bullying are so different. Schools do have some rules about what they have to do, but this definitely adds something that wasn’t there before the end of the 23-24 school year,” Dinwiddie said.
During the legislative session, Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) told lawmakers she was worried that a school or police officer might accidentally tell on an LGBTQ child who is being bullied because of the new law that says victims must be told their parents.
He said, “If a child was being picked on because they were LGBTQ, and this got back to their parents.” “A friend of mine was 17 when someone at school told on him. His parents kicked him out of the house, and he had to live with other people.” What worries me are the cases where the parents knowing could be very bad for the child.
The bill’s author, Rep. Lowell Russell (R-Vonore), said the change to the law could save lives.
“Bullying does lead to violence or suicides,” Russell said. “And even if we have some unintended consequences, our goal is to protect kids, and this is the only way I know how to do that.”
William Lamberth, the majority leader of the House of Representatives (R-Portland), agreed that telling a parent about bullying is a good idea.
“A lot of the time, no one knows what’s going on with the child when they are going through terrible things, and as a parent, I just want to know,” Lamberth said. “Whether someone is picking on my child at school or my child is going through a hard time, it is my job as a parent to love, care for, and support that child. That is my first duty.”
The bill was passed by Gov. Bill Lee on April 23. The change will happen on July 1.
