Criminalizing Bullying

Last week, I worried a little , like a puppy with a bone too big for him, at the indictments that followed the horrifying Massachusetts suicide and bullying incident .

That dismayed some of our readers, who pointed out—quite rightly—that there will real crimes committed before the suicide, and why shouldn’t they lead to criminal indictments, when the consequences proved so deadly? More, readers pointed out, bullying can be devastating, and my worries suggest a lack of concern to argue against the community’s outraged reaction against that bullying, once the girl’s suicide brought everything to light.

Fair enough, I suppose—and yet, I can’t quite drop my long-term dislike of the attempt to criminalize everything wrong, to address all ills through law. And here’s an example of why:

Eugene Volokh has posted the text of a proposed Suffolk County “Local Law to Prohibit Cyber-Bullying.” “No person shall engage in cyber-bullying against a minor in the County of Suffolk,” the law declares, and

Acts of abusive behavior shall include, but not be limited to, taunting; threatening; intimidating; insulting; tormenting; humiliating; disseminating embarrassing or sexually explicit photographs, either actual or modified, of a minor; disseminating the private, personal or sexual information, either factual or false, of a minor; or sending hate mail.

Insulting? Embarrassing? Either factual or false? Every blogger and Facebook account holder in the world would be in potential violation of this law. This is clearly a law to demand that people be nice. Shouldn’t we worry when such demands are made the function of the law?