13-year-old Sonja* has been bullied for months at her secondary school, the Delta VMBO in Helmond. The school and the police have intervened, but the insults, taunting and even abuse continue. It raises the question for her mother whether bullying can be made a criminal offense to tackle the problem. Experts question this.
It is difficult to prove that someone is being bullied. In addition, a criminal prosecution can have a major impact on a bullied child. “He might die a thousand deaths at the thought of a lawsuit,” says Patricia Bolwerk, director of the Stop Bullying Now Foundation.
There is no shortage of evidence in the case of 13-year-old Sonja. There are several videos circulating at her school and beyond that show her being abused by bullies. The police had a stop conversation with one of the bullies. The school has also intervened more often in accordance with the bullying protocol.
Yet it proves extremely difficult to stop bullying. “Why isn’t it made a punishable offense,” her mother wonders. That turns out not to be that easy, the director of Stop Bullying Now knows. For her foundation, Bolwerk once looked together with a law firm to see how feasible it is to make bullying a punishable offense.
“We’ve had a lot of conversations about this, but what almost always goes wrong is that only evidence counts for the law,” she explains. Bullying is not just an argument or shouting match. Someone is bullied if they are systematically insulted, threatened or even physically harassed.
“You can only get convicted of these kinds of things if you have a lot of evidence and can show that someone is systematically the victim,” says the director. “The bullied can often only tell the story alone, but the bullies and followers sometimes give ten versions of a story.”
“Screenshots not 100 percent reliable.”
In addition, the evidence that someone can provide is sometimes not reliable enough to prosecute someone. “Screenshots, for example, are not one hundred percent reliable. If I want to be annoying, I send all kinds of annoying messages and add a different name and profile photo to convince someone,” Bolwerk explains.
Member of Parliament Michiel van Nispen (SP) from Breda thinks for the same reason that it is difficult to make bullying a punishable offense. With his legal background, he knows that it is difficult to prove that someone is being bullied. According to Van Nispen, what can often be proven are certain criminal offenses that are already included in the law.
“You do not have to immediately make bullying a punishable offense if destruction or insult is already included in the Criminal Code and can be proven,” he explains. Videos can sometimes serve as evidence in the case of destruction and insult.
Which is already punishable
Filming an assault on someone who is being bullied is not in itself a punishable offense. Depending on the situation, it can become a punishable offense if, in addition to filming, someone also shouts, laughs or reinforces the behavior of the group. This often falls under open violence, theft with violence or street robbery. A prosecutor can then charge the filming as part of an open act of violence.
Various penalties can then be imposed in juvenile criminal law:
- For public violence by contributing to filming, community service of forty hours or more can be imposed.
- In the event of open violence causing serious injury, unconditional juvenile detention is imposed.
- For minimal violence such as snatching a telephone or threateningly asking for a telephone, a community service order of 60 hours or juvenile detention may be imposed.
These examples are principles that are followed in a criminal prosecution. Because a public prosecutor also takes other circumstances into account, such as the age of the suspect and the consequences for the victim, a sentence may also be lower or different. You can also opt for a Halt measure.
“It feels very humiliating for a bullied child when images are shared, but sometimes it can also help in tackling it. It is often said that the bullying is not too bad or that it is not intended that way, but images show what actually happens,” says Bolwerk.
However, Bolwerk often recommends not to go into criminal proceedings, but to resolve the matter differently with the help of the school and the police. “A child might die a thousand deaths at the thought of a lawsuit,” she says. In addition, it can feel to a bullied child as if they are not taken seriously if the police cannot do anything about it.
“Images need to get off the internet faster.”
The Member of Parliament believes that more money should be invested to tackle bullying. In 2020, he submitted a motion about internet bullying, a topic that crime reporter Peter R. de Vries put on the map at the time with a citizens’ initiative. “This motion contains three points that must be improved: images must be retrieved from the internet more quickly through collaboration between the school and, for example, the Dutch Data Protection Authority,” he explains.
In addition, Van Nispen wants to look at what a bullied child needs and that there should be criminal prosecution based on punishable offenses such as insult, destruction, abuse or threats. “But unfortunately, too little is being done in Parliament with this proposal,” he regrets.
*Sonja is a fictitious name for privacy reasons. The girl’s real name is known to the editors.
