Sunday (7) marked ‘National Day to Combat Bullying and Violence in Schools’. The date highlights the importance of debate about this violent practice among students, parents and schools. With the approval of new Law 14,811/2024, bullying became a crime and whoever practices it will be subject to a sentence of two to four years in prison, if the conduct does not constitute a more serious crime.
The types of bullying differ depending on the way they are practiced. They can be understood as physical, moral, psychological, material, verbal, social, sexual, prejudiced and cyberbullying. This practice consists of threatening or intimidating someone; humiliate for any reason; delete; discriminate based on color, race or sex; speak badly for no reason, etc. Verbal attacks are more common than physical attacks and, at school, they occur quite frequently.
To talk about this topic, the head judge of the 1st Children and Youth Court of João Pessoa, Adhailton Lacet Correia Porto, and the psychologist of the judicial unit, Miúcha Cabral, were invited to a dialogue circle with students from the 3rd and 5th year of the Lions Tambaú School, in João Pessoa. “Certainly, this is one of the most important issues that needs to be addressed, especially in educational spaces. I understand that the state Judiciary has a lot to contribute to combating bullying”, commented Adhailton Lacet, who is also an assistant judge to the Presidency of the Brazilian Association of Magistrates for Children and Youth (Abraminj).
Law 14,811/2024 added article 146-A to the Penal Code, classifying the practice of the crime of bullying as an individual or group action of systematically intimidating, “through physical or psychological violence, one or more people, intentionally and repetitive, without evident motivation, through acts of intimidation, humiliation or discrimination or verbal, moral, sexual, social, psychological, physical, material or virtual actions”.
By Fernando Patriota