CCDO's In-Sites Magazine - Summer 2007 issue

NCPC Aims To Eliminate Cyberbullying
By Al Lenhardt, President and CEO, National Crime Prevention Council

Logo for the NCPC cyberbullying initiative.

Cyberbullying—using the Internet to harass, demean, or abuse youth and to spread malicious rumors and gossip—is a social problem that, if left unchecked, can have major implications for young people, leaving many of them with emotional scars that remain later in life.

The problem is growing:

About 4 in 10 teens experienced cyberbullying at least one time in the past year.
Nearly 20 percent of teens had a cyberbully pretend to be someone else in order to trick them online, getting them to reveal personal information.
Girls report having been cyberbullied more than boys—a rate of 51 percent compared to 37 percent.
Seventeen percent of teens were victimized by someone lying about them online.
Thirteen percent of teens learned that a cyberbully was pretending to be them while communicating with someone else.
Ten percent of teens were victimized because someone posted unflattering pictures of them online, without permission.

These figures come from a national online survey that the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) recently commissioned to determine how teens define cyberbullying, explore their experiences with it, understand their emotional and behavioral reactions to it, and find out what teens think would be the most effective ways to prevent it. Middle and high school students between ages 13 and 17 participated in the survey. Other survey findings include the following:

Only 1 in 10 teens who experienced cyberbullying had talked to his or her parents about it.
Nearly 6 in 10 teens said cyberbullies "probably didn't see their actions as a big deal."
Teens believe that cyberbullying prevention needs to occur at three levels—individual, parental, and online. They feel the most effective way to prevent cyberbullying is to block people who cyberbully from communicating with those they want to bully, refuse to pass along cyberbullying messages, and tell their friends to stop cyberbullying.

In a new advertising campaign, McGruff the Crime Dog and NCPC offer some advice: "Delete cyberbullying. Don't write it. Don't forward it." By asking people to stop cyberbullying by intercepting and stopping its online messages, this campaign seeks the public's help in making sure that children grow up in a healthy, positive environment.

Teens between ages 13 and 17 are the most affected by cyberbullying because they spend a lot of time online, and, unlike children and preteens, this time is largely unsupervised. They use the Internet to talk to friends, gather information for reports, create their own Web pages, look up sports scores, and check out movie times. They have access to the Internet at home, at school, and at friends' houses.

Results of the survey helped shape NCPC's new advertising campaign. Radio advertising, viral video, and Web banners reach kids through the media they use most—the Internet and the radio. New response pieces accompany the messages from McGruff and NCPC, and can be downloaded from the NCPC Web site, along with tips for kids and parents on dealing with cyberbullying. The teen component explains how teens are cyberbullied and how victims react, and it offers tips on preventing cyberbullying and how teens can be cyber safe.

NCPC also is running another campaign, "Take a Bite Out of Cyber Crime," which encourages young adults and teenagers to protect themselves, their families, and their communities against cyber crime. The adult component offers statistics and information regarding cyberbullying, how to take action against cyberbullying, and where to go for more information.

NCPC is committed to protecting children and youth and responding to emerging crime trends, such as cyberbullying. One way NCPC will meet these goals is through its 8th National Conference on Preventing Crime: Helping Build Safer Communities. Weed and Seed site representatives are encouraged to attend this conference to learn more about protecting young people in their communities. In particular, there will be training sessions focused on protecting children and youth, including a series of sessions on bullying and intimidation and a workshop on preventing cyberbullying.

The conference—to be held October 3–5, 2007 in Atlanta, GA—will feature more than 65 training sessions, providing many opportunities to learn cutting-edge strategies and crime-prevention practices and to meet others from throughout the world who are engaged in crime prevention.

For more information, contact:
Brian Snyder
Director of Conference and Meeting Planning
National Crime Prevention Council