Campus bullying refers to an event that occurs inside and outside the campus or between students, where one party deliberately or maliciously bullies or insults the other party for a single time or several times through physical, language, network and other means, causing physical injury, property loss or mental damage to the other party. Based on the harmfulness of campus bullying to students, families and society, countries, based on their own national conditions, prevent and control campus bullying by establishing a governance system with clear responsibilities, taking diversified preventive measures, refining intervention and handling procedures, strict education and punishment mechanisms, and investigating the criminal responsibility of the bully.

Establish a governance system with clear responsibilities

The British Education Act of 1993 stipulates that the Ministry of Education should formulate relevant regulations and provide administrative guidance on anti bullying. The local education department is responsible for providing advice to local communities, schools, and students' parents, correcting students' deviant behaviors, and assisting schools to complete various counseling programs. The Education and Supervision Law of 2006 stipulates in detail the responsibilities of the school management committee, the president, and the teaching staff in the policy framework of student discipline. The guardian has the obligation to prevent the deterioration of the ward's deviant behavior, and to assist the school to improve the bully's serious deviant behavior.

In 1997, South Korea issued the "Measures for the Prevention and Cure of Campus Violence", which stipulated that the Ministry of Education should set up a campus violence prevention headquarters, local education departments should set up campus violence prevention divisions, and schools should set up campus bullying prevention committees, establishing a trinity campus violence prevention system. The Law on Prevention and Countermeasures of Campus Violence issued in 2004 determined that all campus bullying was managed by the campus bullying prevention committee.

Japan's 2013 Prevention of Bullying Countermeasures Promotion Law clearly stipulates that national and local public organizations are responsible for the formulation and implementation of relevant policies; School leaders should take necessary measures to prevent bullying on campus; Teachers and staff should establish cooperation with student protectors, local residents, children's counseling centers and other related parties, make every effort to prevent and detect campus bullying as soon as possible, and take appropriate and prompt measures to deal with campus bullying when it occurs. It is the primary responsibility of the protector to educate his children.

Multiple prevention measures

Carry out education and training. France has designated the first Thursday of November every year as the "National Day against Campus Bullying". Schools will hold relevant theme activities on that day to popularize knowledge about anti campus bullying; The government provides intensive training for all students, parents, teachers and staff. Finland improves students' awareness of anti bullying on campus by building a virtual learning platform, carrying out theme day course learning, taking face-to-face teaching or remote teaching, and establishing an anti bullying network resource sharing platform; Advocate parents to learn the anti bullying instruction manual. In Japan, primary and secondary schools all over the country set up "morality" courses as an important part of the work to prevent bullying on campus.

Open a helpline. Japan, Australia, Norway, South Korea and Sweden all have anti bullying hotlines and complaint mailboxes. France has set up a professional team composed of psychologists, lawyers and information experts to ensure that the telephone line is operated 7 days a week from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. In February 2022, the French campus bullying help app "3018" was officially launched to facilitate victims and witnesses to send screenshots and videos of bullying to the regulatory authorities.

Open a special website. Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have set up websites dedicated to campus bullying, providing various anti bullying information and data download services, and accepting anonymous reports.

Japan's NHK TV station broadcasts a series of programs to prevent bullying on campus every Friday at prime time, and Asahi Shimbun has a special issue of "bullies" to publish articles about anti bullying on campus. The New Jersey Anti bullying Act requires the Ministry of Education to set up a "special fund for bullying prevention" for anti bullying propaganda activities and training of school staff, students and volunteers.

Strengthen the campus security force. The Campus Security Act of 1990 in the United States established the legal status of campus police institutions. Most schools have established campus police systems and institutions, with special campus police or professional security personnel, and also require schools to implement anti bullying education for the parents of bullies. For special circumstances, Singapore can arrange police to enter the campus to help the school solve the problem of bullying on campus. Finland regards onlookers as the focus of education, and prevents and reports campus bullying by changing the attitude of onlookers and enhancing their sense of responsibility.

Refine intervention procedures

Most schools in the UK have designed a strict handling process: after campus bullying occurs, the victim or insider should report to the student tutor, anti bullying ambassador teacher or coordinator in a timely manner. The student tutor shall notify the parents of the students involved and arrange a meeting to talk to the parties individually and investigate in detail. Hold a mediation meeting to help the bully recognize the mistake and promote the physical and mental recovery of the victim. Punish the bully according to law. Carry out follow-up visits, follow up and provide later support.

Japan's Prevention of Bullying Countermeasures Promotion Law specifies the investigation and discovery system, reporting system, consultation system, cooperation system of all parties, protection and help measures for bullies, punishment of bullies and the linkage mechanism with the juvenile justice system, and the corresponding process for major events of campus bullying.

The KiVa anti bullying plan promoted in Finland in 2009 mainly consists of general measures and targeted measures. The former includes bullying prevention programs at the school, teacher and parent levels, and the latter is an intervention program for bullying and victims.

Strict punishment mechanism

The anti campus bullying laws of various states in the United States stipulate that teachers have the right to impose sanctions on bullies, including but not limited to: suspension of study, refusal to participate in extracurricular activities, dismissal, transfer, etc. Among them, Georgia's anti bullying law is the most severe, and those who commit bullying more than three times will be dismissed. The anti bullying law of Georgia stipulates that the perpetrators of bullying three times in a school year must be forcibly transferred to other schools.

The Education Law of the UK in 2002 stipulates that teaching staff have the right to discipline bullies, including the right to admonish, forcibly isolate, stop taking a rest after class, stay in school after class, suspend school or permanently suspend school, and specifically stipulates that students can also be expelled from compulsory education. The local education bureau provides alternative teaching services for students dismissed for bullying on campus to prevent them from committing crimes due to lack of discipline.

Finland does not force the bully to give formal apology, but focuses on the governance effect: confirm whether the agreement reached with the bully has been fulfilled, ask the bully separately about "whether the situation has improved", and discuss with the bully and the victim about "how to ensure that it will not happen again". If the bully still does not repent, the school will take further tough measures.

The Philippines issued the Child Protection Policy of the Ministry of Education, which stipulates written warnings, community services, suspension of classes, isolation or dismissal of bullies.

Australian schools have the right to impose punishment on bullies such as staying in school after school, warning, notifying guardians, temporarily or permanently suspending classes, notifying the police, and expelling students.

In South Korea, the campus bullying prevention committee under the school can take the following measures against the violent students: request a written apology; It is prohibited to coerce or retaliate against the injured student or reporter; Temporarily stop attending classes; Receive special education or psychological treatment; Changing classes; Command calibration transfer; Instruct students in non compulsory education stage to quit school. Twenty one universities, including Seoul University and Korea University, said publicly that from 2025, they will include "campus bullying records" in the assessment criteria for regular enrollment.

The object of education and punishment is not limited to the bully. In New Jersey, bullies, accomplices, onlookers, hasty schools, school district coordinators who fail to report the situation, and student guardians who refuse to cooperate will all be punished. In Wisconsin, parents have 30 days to educate and correct their children's bullying behavior. If parents refuse to cooperate or the correction is ineffective, they will face a certain amount of fines. In Connecticut, minors intentionally or maliciously cause personal and property damage to others. The maximum amount of damages can reach 5 million dollars. Parents and minors bear joint and several liability.

According to British law, guardians are jointly and severally liable for their children's bullying. If a student is permanently suspended from school or regularly suspended from school more than twice within a school year due to deviant behavior, the local education bureau or school can apply to the court to issue a "parenting order" to their parents, requiring them to attend relevant courses and cooperate with the school to correct the behavior of the bully. If the parents violate the provisions of the "upbringing order", the court may impose a fine on them.

give criminal sanctions

Of the 50 states in the United States, 37 have no minimum age for criminal responsibility. Juvenile delinquency follows the principle of "maliciously supplementing the age", that is, if there is evidence to prove that minors can distinguish right from wrong and have subjective intention when committing crimes, they will be treated as adults and bear criminal responsibility.

Japan has a complete criminal justice system for juvenile delinquency, violations of the law, and suspected crimes, which is mainly composed of the Juvenile Law and the Juvenile Trial Rules. Different trial processes and disposal methods are set for the three acts mentioned above. Age is not the decisive factor for the establishment of a crime, This makes all bullying behaviors may be included in the criminal category.

Since 2010, special boarding correction institutions have been set up in various parts of France to accommodate students under the age of 16 who seriously disrupt the order on campus. In December 2021, the draft Campus Bullying Act passed by the French National Assembly is applicable to all primary and secondary schools and universities, including students, teaching staff and school logistics personnel, regardless of whether they are adults or not. The Act criminalizes bullying on campus. In cases involving suicide or attempted suicide, the maximum sentence and fine are 10 years and 150000 euros, respectively. France has therefore become the world's most severely punished country for bullying on campus.

[This is the phased achievement of the Supreme People's Court project "Case Study on Judicial Application of Civil Customs in the Context of the Civil Code" (project number: 2023SFAL017)]

(Author's unit: School of Civil and Commercial Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law)

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