The Rising Issue of Cyber-Bullying

Due to the rise in popularity of social networks over the past ten years, cyber-bullying has been on the increase, and some social scientists believe bullying may be one of the most prevalent causes of teen suicide. As a result of cyber-bullying, teens’ personal, private situations are becoming public for the world to see, and some teens see no other way out. Imagine being a fifteen years old and your friends have been collecting pictures of you on the weekends. One evening the pictures are posted to Facebook and every picture displays you making intimate physical contact with male classmates. Each friend comments under the pictures making references about your sexual reputation. At fifteen this would be extremely embarrassing. The thought of showing your face in school Monday morning would be impossible. Your private, extra-curricular conduct is now the talk of the school. Seemingly, the only way out at such a vulnerable age is suicide.

Recently, Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University, took his own life after his roommate streamed a video on the internet revealing an intimate encounter between Tyler and another man. As a result of the video being leaked onto the internet, Clementi took his own life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River. This story, sadly, is one of many.

In a recent class discussion, one of the CFCC Student Fellows mentioned that one of the Truancy Court Program participants was being bullied by her fellow peers, and the school seemed to brush off the situation. When situations like this occur, the school needs to play an active role in extinguishing the problem as soon as it is presented. The bully needs to be reprimanded for his or her actions, because if the problem persists, the bully will soon realize he or she can continue to bully his or her peers, fulfilling a sense of power and entitlement.

Bullying has been around for ages. It is nothing new; however, with the rise of social networks, the scope of bullying has broadened from merely in-school, to out of school, and children and young adults are being affected in a whole new way. This reaction may be due to a lag between school policies and new technology. Education begins with the students. Teens need to be educated on what is and what is not appropriate for the internet. The internet is a very powerful tool. Teen girls might not think the consequences a Myspace hoax played on their thirteen year old friend would ultimately lead to her taking her own life. Teenagers need to be supervised both at home, in the neighborhood, and at school. Parents need to get involved and speak to their children about both how to deal with a bully and the consequences of bullying. Schools need to implement strict policies on how to deal with bullying, including counseling sessions, providing protection for the victims of bullying, and providing for sanctions for bullies, whether or not their conduct falls within the scope of their education.

Empowering Our Youth to be Agents for Change in their Home, School and Communities

I am also a CFCC Student Fellow this fall participating in the Truancy Court Program at Violetville elementary/middle school. I agree with the previous blogger that it is important that we all work together to see that our students our successful. I wanted to focus my blog on ways community members can reach out to empower youth to be more proactive about their education, their school and their community, especially where the youth lack sufficient encouragement and motivation at home.

Schools and community organizations must reach out to these youth and provide them with

opportunities for youth leadership and community involvement. Schools can provide student leadership opportunities by having a student government and other student clubs where the students are put in leadership positions. Community Groups can promote youth leadership by having youth led groups in religious communities, YMCAs, community associations, neighborhood watch groups and other similarly situated groups in the community.

By getting youth more involved in leadership positions in the school and larger community they will be empowered to act as positive agents for change. For this to be effective the positions must come with actual responsibilities, accountability and be set up in a way that the students feel that their peers and adults are listening to them. This framework will give youth greater incentives to continue to do well because they will want to hold their positions and they will not want to disappoint their peers, teachers and other community members. Personal accountability and an understanding of consequences for bad actions is one area where poor parenting has left many youth lacking, but leadership opportunities for youth that incentivize good behavior and hold them accountable could supplement the inadequate training at home.

I recently researched Youth Courts for our CFCC class. Youth Courts are an excellent example of a structure in place that empowers youth to address the problem of juvenile crime in their community.[1] Youth Courts are diversion courts that are led primarily by youth who have been trained as judges, lawyers, clerks, bailiffs and jurors to hear cases about delinquent conduct committed by their peers. There are various Youth Court models but in all programs the youth are actively involved in the process and are given the responsibility of deciding the best way of holding the delinquent offender accountable for his or her conduct. The program focuses on restorative justice requiring the offender to make amends for their actions and getting them involved in the community. The Youth Court participants serve as positive role models for the young offenders, who see young people their own age who are responsible, socially engaged and respected by the community.

I think that the success of the youth courts demonstrates that youth are capable of acting as agents for positive change in their school and community when given the opportunity to assume leadership positions.

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[1] Goodwin, Tracy. Peer Justice and Youth Empowerment: An Implementation Guide for Teen Court Programs. Chapter 1 pg 3. U.S. Department of Transportation,1996.

Where are the parents?

I have been a volunteer and student fellow in the CFCC’s Truancy Court Program for over the last year. From my tutoring in math to my observations as the student fellow, I have been introduced to a world I did not know and it is nothing like the one I grew up in. I never had to worry about my clothes being clean in the morning or if I would have breakfast. My homework was done after school and my parents always made time to sit down and talk with me about my day. There was no one I was afraid of, no gangs, no bullies and no fighting. There was also no internet, no cell phones and news only traveled as fast as your neighbors could talk. The world was an easier place to grow up in.

Not going to school was never an option. My mom never kept me home because she had a disagreement with my dad. We didn’t move each year. There was consistency and a connection with my school, my teachers, my friends and my life. This is not the case today. As the economy fell apart, families split, communities broke down and the children have suffered almost silently. Parents are no longer at home, having to work 2 jobs or extra hours just to pay the bills. So, the kids can just stay at home if they feel like it. They skip their homework assignments with no one checking on them. The television or video game system has become the babysitter and they are falling behind. If they are having trouble with another student, there is no one to talk to so they keep it to themselves.

Today’s children have to worry about everything. Along with a lack of parental support and parental supervision, social media has exploded. Style is everything and reputations can change in an instant. Being the cool kid has replaced being the smart kid. I have been told on more than one occasion that, “I couldn’t come to school because my hair wasn’t done.” This came from a 7^th grader. In 7^th grade my biggest worry was getting from class to class in the 5 minutes we were given and remembering my lunch each morning. Style wasn’t much of a thought and my hair was a curly mess.

There were no web-pages dedicated to hating me, pictures of me half dressed being text to everyone in the school or an aunt driving up to me in a McDonald’s parking lot to threaten me for disrespecting their 13 year old niece. Yet, these are the stories I have been reading about and hearing from my students. Each story more horrific then the last and each with one glaring consistency, the parent never knew or the parent wasn’t there. Where were the parents?

We are so quick to blame others in our society. We can never accept that our own inaction could have been at fault. So we blame the school and the teachers. Why didn’t they know? Why didn’t they act? They should have known and they should have done something. It’s everyone else fault and could not have been my own. Then the media portrays the parents as the victims and rests the blame squarely on the schools. They should know better.

Parents need to get back to being parents. Their children need them, the schools need them and the communities need them. In a time of economic unrest and social change, we need to be better parents, active parents. Parents build the bridges between school and home, between the children and teachers. Parents are the only ones who can do this.

When we all work together, our children succeed and we all share in their success.

Law School and What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

I am a CFCC Student Fellow this fall, participating in the Truancy Court Program at a Baltimore City elementary/middle school. I returned to law school mid-life after working from home for my children’s younger years because I hoped to take my professional life into a new direction. I wanted to work with people, make a difference in my community, and try to harmonize my work and ideals.

During my first year of law school I often found myself crying and wondering what I had done to myself. The often inscrutable and abstract material of Contracts, Civil Procedure and Property was just not resonating with me. For Property class one day, I had to go to Baltimore City rent court; the gritty, mundane reality of that court seemed very far removed from my law school experience thus far. When I was finally able to choose my courses, I took Interviewing, Negotiating and Counseling, and was somewhat shocked to remember that lawyers deal with real human beings who are often struggling with emotional issues.

Academics often complain about the disconnect between the law and the everyday people the law affects. The bureaucratic institutions that craft laws and policy often don’t or can’t envision how their rules and regulations will play out in the day-to-day lives of everyday people. Legal scholars debate the question of how much social work should be required of legal institutions. Many believe the courts and judges aren’t social workers. But I think that’s wrong: social work’s focus on preventive, non-adversarial measures should take precedence in the practice of law, particularly in the area of family law.

At my Truancy Court Program orientation, the fifteen or so elementary and middle school participants were instructed to fill out fairly detailed forms asking for contact information and information about themselves. I spotted an adorable nine-year-old boy who looked a little lost. I bent down on my knees and guided him through the forms. When he got to “What career would you like to have after you graduate from college?” he looked up at me with blank eyes. I clarified by asking him, “What would you like to be when you grow up?” He blurted out, “How do you spell scientist?” I spelled the word for him and a hardness that has grown around my heart these past three years of law school softened a bit. That simple question has been the most humane moment of my law school career.

Ecology of Human Development - an Invaluable Approach to Family Justice

By Lesley Kamenshine

The ecology of human development that we have learned about in class is most exciting. The concept was first applied to the legal system – specifically family law - by Prof. Barbara Babb, Director of the Center for Family, Children and the Courts, in her groundbreaking blueprint for unified family courts.¹

Developed by psychologist Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner² who founded Headstart, the ecology of human development seeks to understand how the complex interrelationships people develop in different settings affect individuals' lives. How do parents and children function with each other, with and within the school, the community – and even the culture? How much impact does a parent’s employer have on a child? These are examples of questions an ecological approach seeks to answer.

As applied to the legal system, Prof. Babb has provided a systematic way for judges, attorneys for litigants, and the parties themselves to explore - separately or together - the connections and relationships between various facets of a person’s life. The ecology of human development makes a person more three-dimensional. A case is no longer just about a plaintiff's claim or a juvenile delinquent’s record. Through the ecology of human development approach that Prof. Babb has fostered in her work with unified family courts, a legal actor now has the informal legal blessing to explore connections with other facets of a person's life - relationship to the job, the community, school, etc.

While legal actors often do explore such relationships, incorporating the ecology of human development into unified family courts ensures that such relationship exploration is not just random or implicit, but becomes part of the problem-solving process. This would appear to make the legal actor's investigation, interview and/or interrogation more thorough, and provide more opportunities for problem resolution.
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1. Barbara Babb, “Fashioning an Interdisciplinary Framework for Court Reform in Family Law: A Blueprint to Construct a Unified Family Court,” 71 S. Cal. L. Rev. 469, 507-508. Content defining the ecology of human development (paragraph 1, above) comes primarily from p. 507.
2. Id., n. 31, Urie Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Human Development (1979).

The Relationship between Truancy Court and Law Enforcement

Like another CFCC Student Fellow, I also come to the CFCC Student Fellows Program with a perspective largely from law enforcement. The area of the law that has interested me the most has been criminal law (with family law a close second). Most of my internships/clerkships have been in the criminal area of the law. At first glance, it may seem as though the concepts of therapeutic jurisprudence and preventative law would be at odds with a pro-law enforcement viewpoint.

While interning in various offices dealing with criminal law, it is not uncommon to accompany attorneys to court. While observing, it is hard not to notice an alarming trend when criminal defendants are accepting a plea. The defendants are subjected to many questions that help the judge determine whether or not the defendant is fit to take a plea, understands the consequences, etc. One of the questions a judge asks to assess a defendant's capacity is "what is the highest level of education you have completed?" Quite often, the responses fall short of "twelfth." Therein lies my interest in the Truancy Court Program and the concepts of therapeutic jurisprudence and preventative law.

Just yesterday I attended the Truancy Court Program orientation at the school I will be assigned to for the next 10 weeks. While the children ranged in age from lower elementary students to middle school students, all brought their own personality and it was clear within minutes. These children, who are often identified as at risk of becoming truant, show that they are often intelligent and/or talented in a variety of ways. The problems behind their school attendance are not necessarily a competency issue, lack of interest, or willingness to break attendance laws. Some truancy issues are addressed by simply giving the child an alarm clock, setting goals for them, etc.

The issues in society and their underlying causes that are most vexing should not be ignored. Especially at such an early age when data supports the proposition that high school dropouts are more likely to engage in illegal behavior. It seems rather inappropriate, and counterproductive, to punish a child who may want to be in school but can't the same way as a child who flagrantly breaks the rules. All too often, problems such as these are compounded and/or reinforced by systemic flaws. Therapeutic jurisprudence, rightly, recognizes that applying a one size fits all approach may ultimately backfire not only on the rehabilitation of the individual, but on society as well. In fact, one study found that just one high school dropout costs the public more than $200,000 in social programs and criminal justice expenses over the course of the dropout's lifetime.¹

For a more local example, it cost Maryland taxpayers an average of $38,654 to house an inmate in the Department of Corrections just this past year. This figure, which is 26% higher than the national average, does not even include social programs, court costs, or other expenses. It is not unreasonable to think how things could have been different for school children left behind in the years before the concept of therapeutic jurisprudence, preventative law, and the Truancy Court Program. Maybe more children would have succeeded in school if there had been someone to reach out to them and give the child an item as simple as an alarm clock.

Personally, I look forward to the weeks ahead in the CFCC Student Fellows Program. I would expect that some of my fellow bloggers may share some of their experiences as well. After learning about therapeutic jurisprudence and preventative law, it will be a fantastic opportunity to see the concepts take hold in meaningful 'real world' applications.

1.Colorado Foundation for Families and Children, “Youth Out of School: Linking Absence to Delinquency,” September 2002.

A Student’s First Impression of Therapeutic Justice

Therapeutic Justice (“TJ”), a novel concept to myself and probably most law students, is the brain child of Professors Bruce Winick and David Wexler that posits that, “other things being equal, positive therapeutic effects are desirable and should generally be a proper aim of law, and that antitherapeutic effects are undesirable and should be avoided or minimized.”¹ Additionally, in describing TJ’s role in law, its founders maintain that it is simply a factor to consider along with all of the other meaningful goals our justice system intends to purport.

Upon reading and then discussing this approach to the legal field I could not help but think of TJ as an overly obvious goal that would meet a minimal amount of opposition. However, upon further reflection, the key questions that I seemingly cannot answer are what role, and how much influence, should TJ have in our justice system? Granted, as mentioned above, TJ is claimed to be only a factor to consider, yet this answer seems far too amorphous for an approach that, depending upon the answers to those two questions, could have modest or significant ramifications on how law is practiced everyday.

It seems apparent to me that there are two major ways that TJ can affect our legal system. First, it can affect how laws are made and perhaps more importantly how they are applied in various jurisdictions. In this respect, the questions posed in the previous paragraph need to be answered to determine how strong of a factor our society wishes TJ to play in conjunction with other goals of our justice system. Second, TJ can affect how judicial officials interact with individuals who are thrust into the system for various reasons. This naturally poses its own problems, as it is more determinative on every judicial officer to act and communicate in a fashion that is socially beneficial to clients, plaintiffs, defendants, etc., who, in turn, are all very different. Perhaps TJ’s strongest impact will be made by those who promote this philosophy by bringing it to the awareness of all of the various court actors and hoping that they will act and communicate, consciously or unconsciously, accordingly.

In conclusion, though TJ seemingly raises more questions than it answers, it still is the noble, overly obvious goal that should at the very least be considered in the legal profession. How much consideration? One has to hope that over time TJ will find its proper role.


1. Bruce J. Winick, The Jurisprudence of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, in LAW IN A THERAPEUTIC KEY: DEVELOPMENTS IN THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE 649 (David B. Wexler & Bruce J. Winick eds., 1997).