For bullying at school, it was proposed to fine parents and expel children

Parliament decided to take seriously “aggressive teenagers and young people” who are engaged in deliberate harassment “offline and online,” that is, bullying. And also for their parents. Deputies intend to legislate the concept of “bullying” or “harassment.” Introduce a measure of liability for such acts for the bullies themselves and their legal representatives. Develop a procedure for establishing fines for bullying, and in extreme cases, a mechanism for expelling bullies from school.

Artem Metelev, pre-committee of the State Duma on youth policy, spoke about the new legislative initiative to combat bullying. “This is just a disaster,” the deputy described the current state of affairs with bullying. And we need “not private advisory measures, but norms that are mandatory in every school,” says Metelev.

Previously, there have been several debates in the lower house of parliament about the need to fight bullying. Vyacheslav Volodin, Nina Ostanina, Yana Lantratova, Anna Skroznikova, Biysultan Khamzaev, Valery Hartung and other deputies called for the eradication of a disgusting and dangerous social phenomenon.

Two years ago, a bill was already proposed that would have spelled out the concepts of “victim of bullying,” “observer of bullying,” and “organizer of bullying.” And actually, “bullying” as such. A prevention system with “zero tolerance” for bullying was also considered. Conciliation commissions in each school, previously mediation services.

The most recent Duma proposal of this kind was the “School Friendliness Index,” created on the basis of an annual anonymous survey. The “rating” was announced at the end of 2023, during a discussion of the tragedy in Bryansk, where a schoolgirl opened fire on her classmates. The emphasis was more on bullying prevention.

Now parliamentarians are talking more about countering and punishing bullying. The draft law still faces “public discussion with experts, parents, the professional community and ministries.”

The first step, according to legislators, is the need to formulate and introduce the very concept of “bullying” into a legal norm. Otherwise, “there is bullying, but there is no word.”

“In our opinion, bullying is systematic bullying, psychological and physical violence against a person or group of people, both offline and on the Internet,” says Metelev.

Further, it is proposed to introduce real administrative responsibility for bullying. In theory, it still exists today – punishment for moral harm, harm to health or damage to property. But in practice, it is almost impossible to prove bullying as the root cause. All they will punish the aggressor’s family with is ridiculous fines of a maximum of 500 rubles. Therefore, another necessary norm is working administrative responsibility for parents.

The State Duma also notes that the adopted law on the prevention of neglect and juvenile delinquency does not use the concepts of “bullying” or “buller.” Therefore, it is difficult to even register such a “hero” with the PDN for school or other bullying.

And finally, in the most severe cases, schools and police will have the right to expel the bully who has “terrorized” everyone around him. Currently, schools do not have such a right. According to the law, even children undergo a psycho-medical-pedagogical commission (PMPC) only at the request of their parents. And in the same way, only the will of the parents/legal representatives or the child himself upon reaching adulthood can prompt him to switch to home schooling or to be expelled from school.

Meanwhile, according to statistics, from 30 to 50% of today’s schoolchildren have encountered bullying in one way or another: they were a victim, a witness, a participant or an organizer. Tragedies involving former or current victims of bullying have become more frequent. In 2022, in Izhevsk, a former student who had previously been bullied attacked his school and killed 18 people. A year earlier, a tragedy occurred at Perm State University, where a freshman killed 6 people – he had also previously been a victim of bullying.

Just a few days have passed since the start of the school year, and several incidents similar to bullying have already been reported from different parts of the country. In Novosibirsk, a group of fellow students beat a 12-year-old boy, and he claims that this is not the first time they have done this. In Moscow, a 9th grade student rushed at a teacher with a scalpel, and before that she tried to strangle a classmate. In Nizhny Tagil, two teenage brothers were sentenced for brutally beating an 11-year-old girl. It turned out that they were keeping the whole school in fear.

That is, the bill on bullying is very necessary. But “it is necessary to think through a rule that would not violate the constitutional guarantees of children to receive an education,” says Metelev. On the other hand, a repeated and persistent violator of the “bullying law” must understand that he may be expelled from school. And he was even sent to a “special correctional institution.”

“Bullying is almost inevitable in a group of teenagers that is not moderated by adults,” says social psychologist Valery Raushinsky. – And in a class of 30-35 people it is almost guaranteed. So, it’s probably good that they decided not to prevent it, but to immediately move on to countermeasures and punishment.

Punishment is something that is already clear to any prepubescent boy. Or a girl – girls today increasingly command the core of bullying. In general, almost any schoolchild at the age of 12-15 can become the target of bullying. It is clear that children with disabilities, neuroticism, and from dysfunctional families are at risk. In general, “somewhat different” with a minus sign. But this is optional. You can become a pariah even by accident.

The herd feeling, the idea of ​​belonging to a group at this age works as an overvalued idea, everything else fades into the background. Therefore, for most participants in the question “why?” doesn’t even arise. And, as has been noted more than once in studies, if bullying has started, the “core” of offenders has been formed, the class has been divided into groups of “selected”, observers and, in fact, victims, it is impossible for a teenager to get out of this structure on his own. Either leaving school or sometimes moving to another place of residence will help. There are practically no measures of influence on the aggressor, and it is good if they appear.