Cyberbullying: Is Federal Criminal Legislation the Solution?

Cyberbullying occurs frequently and is often a reciprocal conflict, with individual youths filling the roles of both the victim and the bully in a short period of time. Regardless of the role, involvement in cyberbullying is associated with negative outcomes and has recently been linked to the death of young people in a few cases. In an attempt to alleviate growing concerns about cyberbullying, the Canadian government passed Bill C-13 (the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act), which includes a prohibition on the posting of non-consensual intimate images. Due to the specific criteria in this section of the bill, it is unlikely that it will protect many youth from online victimization. Bill C-13 also criminalizes harassing or annoying behaviour conducted via electronic communication. This law may exacerbate the problem of nondisclosure, may be confusing to youth, and may result in too many youth and a disproportionate number of marginalized youth becoming involved in the criminal justice system. Alternative approaches to dealing with the conflict, such as increasing the use of empirically based programs that teach youth to resolve interpersonal conflict and encourage them to disclose incidents of cyberbullying, would be more effective than federal criminal legislation at protecting young people from online victimization.