By Newark Police
Around the schoolyard it’s easy to spot a bully, but when harassment takes place online, cyber bullies often torment their victims behind the mask of anonymity, making it difficult to hold them accountable.
Just who are these cyber bullies? Are they vengeful youth lurking in online chatrooms or are they “friends” on Facebook? What’s the profile of a cyber bully?
While research suggests that anyone is just as likely to be a bully or a victim, here are a few common profiles of youth-tormenting cyber bullies:
The Peer Predator
It’s not surprising that most cyber bullies are the same age as their victims and equally as likely to be a boy or girl. These peer predators are more apt to be the Facebook “friends” of their victims. According to a 2004 study by the Journal of Adolescence, 68 percent of these offenders (typically age 9-14) use the Internet for four or more days per week, while those whose use the Internet most often for chat rooms are three times more likely to harass others online than those who don’t. As the peer predator passes age 15, bullying becomes more violent and often evolves into sexual harassment.
The Pedophile
On Facebook he is the 17-year-old boy or girl everyone has a crush for, in real life he is a middle-aged man, logging into Facebook from his garage to seek out shy, withdrawn, or handicapped children who are vulnerable to his advances. Most often men (though they do include women), these perverts gain the trust of their victims and convince them to take pornographic photos of themselves–which the pedophiles promptly share online with the victim’s peers. One example, a teenager killed herself after a string of harassment emanating from an incident where a mystery man posted a photo exposing the teen’s chest.
The Parent/Impersonator
It’s probably a teen’s worst nightmare to be ‘friended’ online by their parent or a friend’s parent on Facebook or other social media. But when parents impersonate teenagers online in an attempt to take justice into their own hands or “investigate” activity in their child’s social network, it can get really nasty quick. In 2007, a mom posed as a foreign 16-year-old boy to feign interest in teenage girl, a former friend of her daughter’s to investigate what she was saying about her daughter online. After online manipulation and harassment the girl committed suicide at the Missouri mom’s urging.
Holding Cyber Bullies Accountable
Too often these faceless bullies torment their victims without facing consequences for their actions. For youth victims however, their tormentors aren't faceless: the profile of a cyber bully is often the kid sitting next to them in class, perhaps a soccer teammate, or a Facebook friend, people they know but are too embarrassed to report. Stopping “the peer predator”, “the pedophile” and “parent/impersonator” and other online tormentors is possible by encouraging victims to speak out–identify and report cyber bullies to school administrators and law enforcement when necessary. Talk to your children today about these threats.
Anyone with information about crimes in Newark is asked to call Newark Police Department's non-emergency line at 510-578-4237 or can call the Silent Witness Hotline at 510-578-4000, extension 500.
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