In the last two decades harassment of teenagers in school, an offense which used to be called bullying or hazing, is now being prosecuted in state criminal courts, according to a report from USA Today and anecdotal evidence accumulated by Tampa criminal defense attorney Musca. One incident in Tampa has garnered widespread national attention and has lead to the prosecution of several football players. The incident involved four flag football players who reportedly held down a younger teammate and sexually assaulted him with a broom handle and a hockey stick. The teen was allegedly assaulted because of a botched play during a flag football game. School administrators learned of the attack after the students were called into the principal's office and asked to write an explanation of the problem on the football field. The teens reportedly confessed.
After the assault the teens then threatened to do it again, according to a witness. The case was widely reported in the Tampa area because of the stunning nature of the act as well as the characteristics of the accused. Most of the students involved in the assault were in honors classes and promising athletes. The widespread reporting of the prevalence of school bullying and the emotional impact it has had on the victims of bullying has led the local State Attorney's Office to become involved in bringing cases like the one in Tampa into criminal court. By some estimates, approximately a third of students between the ages of 12 and 18 have been the victims of bullying within the last year.
Some authorities on bullying in secondary schools have also speculated that middle and high school authorities and local law enforcement agencies have become more serious about bullying because the degree of bullying that occurs in this day and age is simply more serious than it was two decades ago. Bullying has taken on physical and sexual components, where it used to be primarily emotional, like taunting victims.
