Brain Scan Shows Bullies Enjoy Others' Pain

When youths with aggressive conduct disorder watch an individual intentionally hurting another (like closing a piano lead), regions of the brain that process painful information are activated, as well as the amygdala and ventral striatum (part of the neural circuit involved in reward processing. (Jean Decety, University of Chicago/Handout/Reuters)

Download brain_scans_show_bullies_enjoy_others_pain.pdf

Bully Justifies His Behavior - Florida schools who don't comply with state law risk losing funding.

The Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act requires schools in the state to adopt policies to discourage bullying in person and online or risk losing state funding. "We tried reason, we tired logic, we tried morality, we tried legality to take care of these students and it didn't work," Tirella told ABC News. "So you know what we're trying now? The pocketbook."

We're seeing the same situation with oil. We could have easily worked towards alternative energy when we hit the crisis at the pumps in the late 70's. We put it off until it really is hurting our pocket book. Will it be the same with victimization of children? Will most schools wait until they are "threatened" not only with violence in their schools but with loss of funds before they seriously address the core issues of personal safety with research-based curricula?

While 35 states encourage schools to spell out anti-bullying policies, Florida is only the second state to penalize schools that don't comply. Under the law, Florida schools will also have to follow up on reports of bullying by contacting the parents of all students involved, including the bullies.

Jeff Johnston grew up a well-liked, straight-A student, who seemed to have a bright future. But after enduring two years of taunts and Internet attacks, Jeff took his own life at 15. "He said, 'Mom, where can I go? Everybody knows. There's no place I can hide,'" she said. Johnston said Jeff reported the bullying to school officials and told them that Robert Roemmick was his primary tormenter.

Roemmick said he apologized to Debbie Johnston over the phone, but despite Jeff's suicide, he still justifies his behavior. "I said I was sorry for her loss, but even in his passing, I'm not sorry for why I said it," Roemmick said.

How are you handling the bullying issue with the children in your care?

Download Florida_Anti-bullying_law.pdf

Cyber Bullying Suicide Forces Small Town to Step Up After The FBI Failed

Few saw the effects Cyber Bullying would have on our children nor how the power of the web could be used to intensify this socially tramatic experience. This story opens a lots of questions about legislation and another case for prevention education.

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (A town of 5500 residents)— City officials declared online harassment a crime Wednesday, fewer than two weeks after they learned of a 13-year-old girl who killed herself after receiving hurtful messages on a popular social networking website.

The FBI and St. Charles County Sheriff's Department investigated the Meiers' allegations over the past year and could find no appropriate criminal charge. Prosecutors didn't see a crime either, and high-profile law firms did not pursue a civil suit.

OnLine Bullying Suicide
Download online_bullying_suicide.pdf

"Especially concerning, youth who reported being targeted by Internet harassment were eight times more likely than all other youth to concurrently report carrying a weapon to school in the past 30 days," added Ybarra's team, who interviewed 1,500 10- to 15-year-olds.

They found that 64 percent of those who reported having been bullied online were not victims of physical or verbal aggression in person. That makes for a whole new population of victims, the researchers agreed.

Teen Bullying Thrives OnlineDownload teen_bullying_thrives_online.pdf

Share with us what the children in your life are experiencing and what you are doing to fix the problem.