CRIMINAL LAW

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Cyberbullying
The federal judge was not able to find any criminal violation against the cruel Missouri woman, for the internet hoax role she played against a teenage girl which eventually ended up in suicide. This can be attributed to the limitations of the law as pointed out by the U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien. The attorney pointed out that there was a lacuna in law to address cyber-bullying. The prosecutors at Missouri were also not able to find an applicable statute to prosecute the case. Another reason for failure in the conviction can be traced to the fact that she was not charged for directly causing the death of the teenager. She was somewhat charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This amounted to three misdemeanor crimes of unauthorized access to a computer (CBS News 1).
There have been recent developments in laws for addressing cyberbullying. Some states have come up with laws to regulate cyberbullying, but enforcement is a challenge. Cyberbullying is also mostly considered a civil matter rather than a criminal case. Existing laws such as criminal harassment statutes are usually used in prosecuting cyberbullying cases. Recently, many states have come up with cyber harassment statutes, others have included cyberbullying in their bullying laws. Though the laws may not directly attribute criminal liability to cyberbullies, they provide directives to institutions to create policies on bullying. Penalties for cyberbullying are dependent on the state and the applicable law.

They range from civil penalties to jail time for misdemeanors and felonies. (Selkie et al. 126)
Civil law is a branch of law that concerns itself with laws that regulate matters primarily considered private. It deals with matters such as torts, contracts and domestic matters such as inheritance, family among others. Criminal law deals with crimes. It refers to a body of state made rules that are meant to harmonize the relationship between people in a society. In legal theory, crime is defined as an act or omission prohibited by law that is enacted for the protection of the public and violation of which is prosecuted by the state (Burnham 4-7).
Works Cited
Burnham, William. Introduction to the law and legal system of the United States. West Academic Publishing, 2016.
CBS News. “Cyberbully Mom Guilty Of Lesser Charge.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 26 Nov. 2008, www.cbsnews.com/news/cyberbully-mom-guilty-of-lesser-charge/.
Selkie, Ellen M., Jessica L. Fales, and Megan A. Moreno. “Cyberbullying prevalence among US middle and high school-aged adolescents: A systematic review and quality assessment.” Journal of Adolescent Health 58.2 (2016): 125-133.