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05-04-2004, 07:02 AM
Calls for Change to Law Heard
POSTED: 6:15 am EDT May 3, 2004
ATLANTA -- A 13-year-old Clayton County boy, who said he was bullied
for more than two years, will be sentenced Wednesday after striking
back at one of his classmates.
At his Jonesboro middle school, Daryl Gray says he has been hit,
called gay and even had his shoes urinated on in the school
restroom. But in March, Daryl, a Jehovah's Witness who had not been
in trouble before, struck another boy in the face with a pencil. The
boy was seriously injured and has been left permanently scarred.
On April 9, a judge found Daryl guilty in juvenile court of
aggravated battery. He faces up to five years in jail when he is
sentenced Wednesday morning.
Daryl is among a growing number of bullying victims who are striking
back, sometimes in deadly ways, said Dorothy Espelage, an associate
professor of educational psychology at University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. A 2002 U.S. Secret Service and Department of
Education study found that two-thirds of school shootings in the
past 30 years were committed by bullying victims, according to
Espelage.
Suspension, expulsion and criminal prosecution are common results,
which are often handed out with little or no consideration to the
history or context of the situation, Espelage said.
During his court hearing, Judge Leslie Gresham refused to consider
arguments by Daryl's lawyer that he acted in self-defense.
"Unfortunately, the law doesn't know that there are increased
numbers of bully victims in school systems," Espelage said. "An
increasing number of bully victims are no longer sitting back and
taking this."
But even in issuing her guilty verdict against Daryl, Judge Gresham
questioned whether a bullying victim who fights back for the first
time can commit felony aggravated battery.
"Unfortunately, with the law, it is yes," Gresham said.
The law and courts need to offer more flexibility in dealing with
bullying victims who commit violence, and the punishment should take
the suspect's age into consideration, she said.
Daryl's case comes amid efforts to toughen Georgia's anti-bullying
law.
Those revisions, approved by the state House, expand the law's reach
beyond middle and high school and into elementary school. They also
require schools to investigate all incidents and report them to the
state Department of Education.
State Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, pushed to strengthen
Georgia's anti-bullying law after a 14-year-old boy fired a gun at a
student who had been bullying him. Instead, he killed an innocent
bystander at school last August in Columbus. The Columbus student,
who has pleaded innocent, remains in custody and is awaiting trial
on murder charges.
But special laws are not needed to handle bullying victims who fight
back, says Lee Sexton, president of the Georgia Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers. Laws on the books dealing with assault,
battery and self-defense are enough, he said.
What needs to change, he suggested, is how the nation's juvenile
justice system deals with children who commit crimes.
"The system is broken," Sexton said, "and it needs to be fixed."
Nan Stein, a Wellesley College researcher and co-author of the 1996
teaching guide, "Bullyproof," said she considered Daryl's
conviction "zero tolerance gone amok."
But Christopher Montgomery, who handles juvenile cases for Clayton
County, said he was fulfilling his responsibilities to uphold the
law in prosecuting the case. Montgomery said Daryl is a "very fine
young man" who is not a delinquent but committed a delinquent act.
Daryl says the boy he struck in the face hit him on the head first
during math class at Pointe South Middle School. Like Daryl, the boy
who hit him was suspended for 10 days, according to Daryl's mother,
Jeanette Gray.
But that boy was charged only with misdemeanor battery because his
blow, unlike Daryl's, did not cause serious physical injury.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/3261696/detail.html
POSTED: 6:15 am EDT May 3, 2004
ATLANTA -- A 13-year-old Clayton County boy, who said he was bullied
for more than two years, will be sentenced Wednesday after striking
back at one of his classmates.
At his Jonesboro middle school, Daryl Gray says he has been hit,
called gay and even had his shoes urinated on in the school
restroom. But in March, Daryl, a Jehovah's Witness who had not been
in trouble before, struck another boy in the face with a pencil. The
boy was seriously injured and has been left permanently scarred.
On April 9, a judge found Daryl guilty in juvenile court of
aggravated battery. He faces up to five years in jail when he is
sentenced Wednesday morning.
Daryl is among a growing number of bullying victims who are striking
back, sometimes in deadly ways, said Dorothy Espelage, an associate
professor of educational psychology at University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. A 2002 U.S. Secret Service and Department of
Education study found that two-thirds of school shootings in the
past 30 years were committed by bullying victims, according to
Espelage.
Suspension, expulsion and criminal prosecution are common results,
which are often handed out with little or no consideration to the
history or context of the situation, Espelage said.
During his court hearing, Judge Leslie Gresham refused to consider
arguments by Daryl's lawyer that he acted in self-defense.
"Unfortunately, the law doesn't know that there are increased
numbers of bully victims in school systems," Espelage said. "An
increasing number of bully victims are no longer sitting back and
taking this."
But even in issuing her guilty verdict against Daryl, Judge Gresham
questioned whether a bullying victim who fights back for the first
time can commit felony aggravated battery.
"Unfortunately, with the law, it is yes," Gresham said.
The law and courts need to offer more flexibility in dealing with
bullying victims who commit violence, and the punishment should take
the suspect's age into consideration, she said.
Daryl's case comes amid efforts to toughen Georgia's anti-bullying
law.
Those revisions, approved by the state House, expand the law's reach
beyond middle and high school and into elementary school. They also
require schools to investigate all incidents and report them to the
state Department of Education.
State Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, pushed to strengthen
Georgia's anti-bullying law after a 14-year-old boy fired a gun at a
student who had been bullying him. Instead, he killed an innocent
bystander at school last August in Columbus. The Columbus student,
who has pleaded innocent, remains in custody and is awaiting trial
on murder charges.
But special laws are not needed to handle bullying victims who fight
back, says Lee Sexton, president of the Georgia Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers. Laws on the books dealing with assault,
battery and self-defense are enough, he said.
What needs to change, he suggested, is how the nation's juvenile
justice system deals with children who commit crimes.
"The system is broken," Sexton said, "and it needs to be fixed."
Nan Stein, a Wellesley College researcher and co-author of the 1996
teaching guide, "Bullyproof," said she considered Daryl's
conviction "zero tolerance gone amok."
But Christopher Montgomery, who handles juvenile cases for Clayton
County, said he was fulfilling his responsibilities to uphold the
law in prosecuting the case. Montgomery said Daryl is a "very fine
young man" who is not a delinquent but committed a delinquent act.
Daryl says the boy he struck in the face hit him on the head first
during math class at Pointe South Middle School. Like Daryl, the boy
who hit him was suspended for 10 days, according to Daryl's mother,
Jeanette Gray.
But that boy was charged only with misdemeanor battery because his
blow, unlike Daryl's, did not cause serious physical injury.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/3261696/detail.html