By Ebi Kesiena
School bullies could be jailed for up to three years in France after its MPs voted to make bullying a criminal offence.
The proposed legislation will make school bullying a specific criminal offence, which either students or school staff can be held liable for.
With one in 10 children believed to have been affected by bullying in France, deputies in the Assemblée nationale backed the draft law, saying it would alert the nation to the serious effects on victims.
“We will never accept the lives of our children being shattered,” President Emmanuel Macron’s Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer was quoted saying during a debate recently.
He said the legislation would be “a way of enforcing the values of the Republic”.
Erwan Balanant, a Deputy from Brittany who represents the centrist MoDem (Democratic Movement) party, supported the proposed law saying it would send a “shockwave” through society.
He said far from it being about “sending children to prison”, the new measures were about awakening the public to the dangerous repercussions of bullying, the paper reports.
“There is a justice system for minors that takes into consideration the accused’s age and powers of discernment,” Mr Balanant said.
Under the proposed law, the maximum sentence would be three years in jail and €45,000 (£38,300), although it is understood to be unlikely that a child would be sent to prison. Rather, community schemes would be set up to teach minors about the impact of bullying.
If a victim ends up attempting suicide or taking their own life, bullying would be punishable by up a maximum of 10 years in jail and a €150,000 (about £127,500) fine.
The law was largely approved by parties of the right and centre, but there was opposition by some politicians on the left, who believed the law would “increase repression”.
Others argued that bullying is already covered by criminal law, as a case can be prosecuted under laws making harassment an offence.
