School Bullying Video Goes Viral

Casey Heynes went from victim to hero when he fought back against a school bully. Video footage of the bullying incident went viral, because when Casey finally had enough of being bullied he picked up his attacker and threw him to the ground. The bully could have been seriously hurt when he was body slammed, but suffered only a scraped knee.

Zero Tolerance Sees Victim Suspended
Casey's school was well aware that he had been bullied for several years. In an interview with Australia's "A Current Affair," the boy explained that every time he is attacked the school asks him to file an incident report. He estimates he has done this at least 60 times. The school response has always been to suspend the bullies, who then return to school and take up their bullying again.

Casey feels he was targeted by bullies in part because he always followed school rules in the past, and avoided retaliation. He fought back out of fear that he would be attacked by the bully's friends, who were taunting him during the violent attack. This choice was seen not as self-defence, but as fighting. Casey was suspended by a school that has a zero tolerance policy - one that unfortunately did little to protect him from daily abuse at school.

Anti-Bullying Programs Not Effective
Ironically, March 18 was the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence in Australian schools. With thousands uniting on Facebook and YouTube to support Casey's choice to fight back, he has drawn international attention to the question of how to deal with bullies. Schools have taught students for decades to stand up to the bully verbally, to avoid fighting, and to go tell a teacher. There is good reason to question the effectiveness of such strategies, with the National Institute of Child Health and Development reporting 1 in 3 American middle and high school students are bullied.

Fighting Back with Restorative Justice
School case studies and research published by the Australian Institute of Criminology point in the direction of an approach that combines compassion and rehabilitation with accountability for the student's actions. Restorative justice provides a supportive environment for both the bully and the bullied. In this safe space the bullied student can confront the bully, and the bully can find ways to repair the damage done. The process involves being clear that violent acts are not acceptable, but it does not seek to condemn or punish the bully.

"Punishment instils a narrow, selfish way of thinking," says the research paper, authored by Brenda Morrison. "[T]he focus is on oneself rather than others." This helps to explain why zero tolerance policies that rely mainly on punishments such as suspension have not been more effective at reducing bullying. Programs based on rewards also fail, because few students will take part in the activities that lead to rewards.

Restorative justice programs address bullying by creating a sense of community that benefits all students. One school case study reports improved school attendance and increased engagement, including participation of a greater range of students in activities that previously saw only an elite minority attend. Parental involvement with the school also increased, and both students and teachers felt better about their school environment once restorative justice programs were in place. As for bullying, "suspension rates were higher at the start of the program but have now dropped dramatically to nil in the past 2 terms."

Despite some impressive results, restorative justice is often rejected by those who need to see a bully punished in order to feel bullying has been properly addressed. But when a student who bullies is given a holiday from school and then allowed to return to his bullying, how is he punished? Punishment by definition decreases an undesired action. If a consequence does not reduce the targeted action, it is not a punishment. In other words, if it isn't working then why do it?