Shawano, Wisconsin is charging parents a find if their child is the one who does the bullying. The city council in Shawano passed an ordinance this month against any bullying or harassment.
Parents will first be notified of their child's inappropriate behavior and will be given 90 days to address the issue. Upon the second warning, parents will be issued a $366 fine for the offense. A second offense would result in a fine of almost $700, according to Huffington Post.
It is specifically a bullying ordinance and harassment ordinance that does not allow that kind of behavior, according to Mark Kohl, chief of police in Shawano. The ordinance clearly defined bullying as any behavior that involves the intent to intimate, threaten, slander or emotionally abuse another child. The type of harassment can be in any physical, verbal or written form.
Kohl reiterates though that law enforcement officers will not target playground-type of kid talk, but rather more serious incidents that have a clear effect on the victim. The ordinance, however, is for off-school grounds that happen outside school hours. Schools have their own policies and procedures that law enforcement officers cannot enforce and get involved with.
The new ordinance has garnered plenty of media attention generating both favorable and critical responses. Kohl says that the response has been 99.9 percent positive as police agencies both within and outside the estate have been interested in implementing the same idea in their city.
One benefit of the new ordinance is it will force parents to not ignore their child's bullying, according to Dr. Steven Meyers, a psychology professor from Roosevelt University. The intent is to solicit help from the parents and work in partnership with them, according to Meyers.
In addition, the ordinance potentially forces parents to confront their kids about bullying if it is indeed a problem. On the other hand, critics of the ordinance claim that accumulated fines may increase stress and conflict at home for families who cannot afford to pay them.
Bullying is considered a public health problem as 20 percent of high schools students reported being bullied in 2013, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as cited by WQAD. One in every four children aged 12 to 18 claims they have been bullied sometime during the school year.
Shawano is not the first city where parents are faced with fines due to bullying. Similar efforts have been seen in other Wisconsin cities and another city in California that nearly criminalized bullying.
