Other Forms of Redress against Cyber-bullying

As well as through the criminal courts, cyber-bullying victims may seek redress through the civil courts and through non-legal responses.

a. Non-criminal Legislation

Victims of cyber-bullying are able to seek justice through the civil courts. This may either be in conjunction with criminal prosecution or, when the offence committed does not warrant criminal prosecution, on its own.

Civil liability has a broader scope than criminal liability as victims are able to seek compensation from both an offender and a third party. In cyber-bullying cases this may be of particular relevance, where a third party may be a school that has failed to take preventative steps to stop bullying.

Civil liability is also easier to prove than criminal liability, as it only requires that the prosecution prove a case on the balance of probabilities, rather than beyond reasonable doubt. Furthermore, unlike criminal law, age is no barrier to a civil suit, and instead the requirement, according to Windeyer J in McHale v Watson (1964), is only that a perpetrator must be ‘old enough to know that his conduct was wrongful.’

Civil suits are monetary, and because of this a prosecutor should ensure that the defendant of any suit has the financial resources to pay reparations. This is important, as it would be senseless to spend time and money against a party who is unable to pay the damages awarded.

b. Non-legal responses

There are multiple governmental and non-governmental organisations in place to help the victims of bullying.

The Kids Helpline is a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, free counselling service for children and young adults to talk about their problems and receive helpful information. Lifeline and EHeadSpace are two other designated phone services for support and advice for personal crises.

Internet websites such as Take a Stand Together, Cybersmart and Reach Out, provide valuable information to cyber-bullying victims, perpetrators, parents and teachers. These websites explain what cyber-bullying is and how it is harmful, provide tips on how to take action to prevent bullying, and connect people through blogs and forums to provide support networks for those who are vulnerable.

Furthermore, the Australian Human Rights Commission has a complaint handling service that investigates complaints of bullying. These complaints, however, are generally tied into areas of discrimination and harassment, and seek to use conciliation methods to resolve such problems. As such, this would be appropriate for cyber-bullying that takes place in the workplace.

A new independent anti-cyber-bullying foundation is currently being set up by a Moreland taskforce. This foundation, which will have a 24-hour phone service to report cyber-bullying, aims to log, monitor and register habitual bullies before passing the information to relevant authorities. Such a foundation may prove invaluable in creating a database of cyber-bullies for any eventual prosecution.