Bullies on trial
| Author | Jennifer Pettalia,Joanna Pozzulo |
| Date | 01 May 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758015571472 |
| Published date | 01 May 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Bullies on trial: Mock jurors’
perceptions of a bully
Jennifer Pettalia and Joanna Pozzulo
Carleton University, Canada
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine mock jurors’ decisions when faced with a case involving a
bully charged with the suicide death of a victim. Mock jurors read a fictional trial transcript detailing
the final months of the victim’s life, in which the 16-year-old victim was repeatedly bullied by the
18-year-old defendant. Manipulations included: sex of the victim and defendant (i.e. both were
female or both were male), nature of the bullying (i.e. directly threatening to kill the victim or
indirectly telling the victim to kill himself), and the medium used by the bully (i.e. no bullying
occurred online or some bullying occurred with the use of the internet). Most mock jurors were in
favor of convicting the defendant, particularly when both parties were male and the defendant was
accused of repeatedly telling the victim to kill himself both on- and offline. Over 80 percent of the
mock jurors stated that they would like to see bullies incur criminal charges. Approximately 50
percent indicated that they felt a charge as severe as manslaughter was warranted in cases where
the victim commits suicide.
Keywords
Bullying, cyberbullying, guilt, juror decision-making, suicide
The purpose of the present study was to assess mock jurors’ responses to a case where a bullied
victim’s suicide (termed bullycide) led to the bully being charged with manslaughter. Although
few cases of this nature have been heard in criminal courts to date, public pressure and legislative
changes have urged strict consequences for bullying behavior. This study is a pre-emptive exam-
ination of juror decision making in a bullycide case. These preliminary results provide insight into
the controversial notion of charging a young adult with manslaughter when the cause of death was
in fact suicide. Moreover, understanding potential jurors’ decisions in such a case will inform the
public and law-makers as to the impact of future legislative changes.
Corresponding author:
Jennifer Pettalia, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6,
Canada.
Email: Jennifer.Pettalia@carleton.ca
International Review of Victimology
2015, Vol. 21(2) 205–216
ªThe Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758015571472
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