When Bullying Becomes Assault

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The line between bullying and assault is often a fine one. Verbal abuse and mental torment can be just as damaging as physical violence, but is usually much harder to prove. Many times bullies will stop at intimidation, because in most cases that is enough to get the satisfaction or thrill they are looking for.

Bullying in most cases typically involves the singling out of one particular person for the purpose of teasing, name-calling, threatening, pushing, and even more passive methods such as spreading rumors and social exclusion.

There are cases, however, where bullying crosses that fine line into actual violence, which of course changes the situation both personally and legally. One of the differentiating factors is that bullying is not against the law while violence and assault are.

In my own case, my daughter attends a public high school, and is right now confined to a wheelchair as the result of a serious neurological condition that leaves her extremely sensitive to any sort of touch. Touch causes extreme levels of pain. In one of her classes, a boy was taunting her about her condition, and kept threatening to touch her to see if it would indeed hurt. At best, this would be classified as bullying, but then he took it one step further by sitting on my daughter, causing excruciating pain. At this point, he effectively crossed the line from bullying to assault. We are considering pressing charges against this young man at the moment.

Bullying must never be tolerated, in any form. While it is tempting as parents to step in and solve the problem, doing so is not always in our child's best interests, as it may leave them embarrassed and with further damage to an already scarred psyche. You need to be the support for your child, and encourage them that it is okay to stand up for themselves and defend themselves as need be. More than one child has made the incredibly delightful discovery that most bullies are in fact cowards who will back down is actually confronted. Rarely does a bully want a victim who is willing to fight back.

That being said, there does come a point where bullying becomes assault, and at that point as parents it does become necessary to step in before someone is injured or worse. Violence against your child should never be tolerated, even for a minute. If the bullying occurs at school, contact school officials, giving them the bully's name and a detailed account of what has been occurring. Most schools keep their own house and will see that the problem is addressed. If you do not get a satisfactory response from the school, take the next step and contact law enforcement. Do not hesitate to press charges, as this is a serious issue and letting the bully off will send a clear signal that he is free to engage in this type of behavior again.

Of course bullying is not confined to school age children, as many adults will testify to being bullied by spouses or in their workplace. Bullies thrive on power, namely holding some form of power or control over somebody else, and will conduct their behavior as a means of getting attention and respect from others. Does this sound like anybody in your office?

Bullies are also very adept at identifying their victims, namely people with low self esteem, shy, quiet, or insecure, and weaker either in personality or physical attributes. Bullies will never pick on anyone their own size or who displays similar aggressive tendencies, and this holds true even in the adult world.

Bullying is a serious issue. For too long the common wisdom was "Well, it's just just teasing, nobody gets hurt" or the infamous "it builds character, it helps kids learn how to stand up for themselves." Nothing could be further from the truth. Bullying, if left unaddressed, can lead to more serious, and potentially deadly consequences. With the rise of the internet, cyberbullying has become the latest incarnation, and news reports of teenagers committing suicide as a result have been disturbingly common in recent years.

Take the proper stand against bullying, and make it known that this is a behavior that will not be tolerated. Standing up against bullying is always the proper thing to do.

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Source by Billy D Ritchie