Cyberbullying is a Crime in Utah

According to the Utah Department of Human Services’ Student Health and Risk Prevention Survey, 19% of elementary and middle-school students say they were harassed on line at least once with 2.7% indicating they were harassed six or more times.

Utah is one of many states cracking down on cyber-bullying by requiring that all school districts have an anti-cyber-bullying policy in place and enacting legislation making cyber-bullying a crime.  Under Utah law a person is guilty of electronic communication harassment if that person:

(a) (i) makes repeated contact by means of electronic communications, whether or not a conversation ensues; or
(ii) after the recipient has requested or informed the person not to contact the recipient, and the person repeatedly or continuously:
(A) contacts the electronic communication device of the recipient; or
(B) causes an electronic communication device of the recipient to ring or to receive other notification of attempted contact by means of electronic communication;
(b) makes contact by means of electronic communication and insults, taunts, or challenges the recipient of the communication or any person at the receiving location in a manner likely to provoke a violent or disorderly response;
(c) makes contact by means of electronic communication and threatens to inflict injury, physical harm, or damage to any person or the property of any person; or
(d) causes disruption, jamming, or overload of an electronic communication system through excessive message traffic or other means utilizing an electronic communication device.

As defined above, cyber-bullying can include anything from text messages, e-mail, social networking sites such as Facebook, on-line blogs and even camera phones.  It is a crime in Utah to engage in cyber-bullying with charging classifications ranging from a class B misdemeanor up to a felony depending on the age of the victim and prior convictions of the offense.