A bill designed to crack down on cyber bullying is one step closer to becoming a law in Pennsylvania.
Texting, Facebook, blogs, you name it, electronic communication has become an easy way to bully. “Those who do cyber harass and bully can hide behind internet keys,” said State Representative Ron Marsico (R- Dauphin).
Marscio wants to crack down on those who bully children. He created a bill that would make cyber bullying of a child a third degree misdemeanor. "Which is a punishment of up to $2,500 and up to a year in jail," said Rep. Marsico.
Anyone under the age of 18 would go through the juvenile court and probation system. Greg Rowe is a legislative liaison with the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, and has advocated for the legislation. "Silliness between individuals, a random insult, is not covered. This would cover pretty damaging statements, pretty derogatory statements about the individual or their characteristics that are designed to cause hurt or ultimately cause harm," said Rowe.
"We had a lot of concerns about First Amendment rights on this bill because let's face it, this bill criminalizes speech," said State Representative Russ Diamond (R-Lebanon). Diamond is one of five representatives who voted against the bill.
"I'm totally anti-bullying. I was bullied when I was a kid," said Diamond. "This iteration of the public square, the Internet, is something we should consider protecting our children from, as parents and as a society, instead of making criminals out of kids just for doing what kids do."
The bill is now headed to the Senate for consideration. This happened with a similar version last session but it never made it for a vote. "It died in the Senate at the last hour. That was very disappointing, so we are back at it. We are being aggressive with this again and hopefully it's something we will adopt," said Rep. Marsico.
