What is Cyberbullying?

Just as the name implies, cyberbullying encompasses all forms of harassment that occur within online communities. This includes both written and spoken harassment many people in the world are already familiar with. However, harassment in cyberspace brings another element to the table that makes it even more dangerous and problematic: anonymity. Becoming anonymous allows people to have a sense of safety, or that they will not be held accountable when they say hurtful things or cause issues. For instance, such sites as “TheDirty.com” have been created for the sole purpose of allowing users to post photos anonymously and other users to post negative captions regarding the individuals in the photo as much as they want. By hiding behind the “walls” of a computer or smartphone, people feel that it is okay to post such hurtful things and get away with it.

What Makes Cyber Bullying Hard to Punish?

This is a difficult question to answer. The main issue with punishing Cyber Bullying is not really the punishments, but how to identify which crime has occurred and who should be held liable. With many crimes, identifying what kind of crime occurred can be pretty simple. This is due to the factor of actual evidence of the crime itself. But when it comes to cyberbullying, it is hard to show a case of abuse, harassment, or bullying since many do not view emotional distress as a very concrete form of evidence. With Cyber Bullying, gathering evidence can be difficult because it is online, tracing the evidence becomes a challenge, and identifying if it truly is bullying or harassment is even murkier. This is due to how such evidence is perceived. Some can see it as simply good-natured fun, but to the bullied, it is seen as being attacked.

What Legal Recourse is Available for Cyberbullying?

Much of Cyber Bullying legal recourse falls under similar legal actions as slander, libel or defamation. These include such things as filing a defamation lawsuit, legal restraining orders, and even emotional distress compensation claims. A majority of cyberbullying cases occur among teenagers, which can be seen anywhere from the secondary school to the university levels. For this reason, many punishments handed out include such things as suspensions, interventions, and even cases of expulsion. While these are not considered legal recourse options, these punishments are sometimes a step in the right direction toward preventing additional bullying.

Featured Courses

Defining the Rules: Illinois Diversity and Inclusion

Meredith Cohen 19 June, 2018

Every two years, Illinois attorneys need to complete 30 credits of CLE by the end of June. At least six of them must be in Professional Responsibility (PR) - and starting with the reporting periods ending in 2019 and 2020, at least one of those credits must be in Diversity and Inclusion (D/I) education. But what does that mean? To assist with this sometimes troublesome (but always important) credit type, check out our guide to Illinois’ Diversity and Inclusion requirement.

What is the Diversity and Inclusion Requirement?

The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism notes that the aim of this specific CLE requirement is to encourage attorneys and the legal community at large to both explore their own prejudices and biases, as well as institutional bias, as well as to develop strategies to change behavior. This is all so necessary right now because, according to the ABA, women currently make up only 36% of the legal profession, and minorities make up just 29.8% of the industry (as of 2008). These studies don’t even touch on many other bases for discrimination, such as sexual orientation, nationality, disability, or religion.

Like all CLE courses, a diversity CLE course must directly relate to issues in the legal profession and in the practice of law. In order to qualify for D/I credit, the courses have to focus on underrepresented groups within the legal industry, and the challenges they face. This includes lack of representation, workplace harassment, barriers to hiring, low retention, lack of professional development and promotion, and other such issues. Courses must be directly focused on the legal profession and aimed at attorneys (like any other CLE course), so courses that aren’t geared toward attorneys won’t qualify.

What Types of Biases Are We Talking About?

The idea here is to eliminate bias against underrepresented groups within the legal industry, so courses can focus on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability, and many other bases for discrimination. The key is that the focus be on the legal industry itself, and not on substantive law topics that are related to diversity and inclusion (ex: courses focused on immigration laws, the tax code and divorce law would not qualify for professional responsibility credit).

What Are Some Example Course Topics that Qualify for D/I Credit?

It may seem daunting to try to find course topics that qualify both for MCLE - aka, courses that are specifically geared towards attorneys and are related to legal subjects - and for this specific Diversity/Inclusion requirement. However, courses in this area can actually be extremely relevant to the practice of law. Some examples of D/I courses available in Illinois include:

Steps to Eliminate Bias in the Legal Profession - This course provides lawyers with the information and insights they need to recognize and stop often subtle and unconscious gender biases and provides advice and techniques that women and men can use to avoid or overcome such gender bias.

Ending the Discriminatory Consequences of Age Bias in the Legal Profession - Attorneys Andrea Kramer and Alton Harris explain how age stereotypes can lead to discrimination and present a series of practices, policies, and techniques that legal organizations can use to eliminate age bias.

Implicit Bias: The Bias You Didn't Know You Have… But You Do - Implicit biases exist in all of us, whether we want to admit it or not, and this course aims to help attorneys recognize the biases they may hold and mitigate them using practical solutions.

Whether or not you’re an Illinois attorney who’s due to complete the MCLE requirement this June, it’s always a good idea to be reminded of the unconscious biases you may be holding - and to learn as many methods as possible to eliminate them from your legal practice!