Bullying Enters the 21st Century? Turning a Critical Eye to Cyber-bullying Research

an article by Carla Cesaroni, Steven Downing and Shahid Alvi (University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada) published in Youth Justice Volume 12 Number 3 (December 2012)

Abstract

Current concerns around cyber-bullying emphasize child-victims and have prompted calls for understanding and reaction to an alleged new type of child-offender.

Though there is little doubt that cyber-bullying is a phenomenon with potential for real harm, there remain a number of critical gaps in the cyber-bullying literature.

This article has two primary goals:

• to confront some methodological issues surrounding the study of cyber-bullying; and
• to draw attention to the potential of established criminological theories of delinquency for explaining cyber-bullying.

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