- 6 months ago
In our special street debate, two teams of students go head to come up with a solution to the problem: How can we get rid of bullying at schools? Which team can convince our audience?
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00:00Hello and welcome to DW77% and you are watching Convince Me.
00:04For today's topic, our topic is should bullying be a crime?
00:07Let's meet our debaters and hear where they stand.
00:09My name is Vuhana Vijay Chalvid and I firmly support the motion that bullying should be a crime.
00:14My name is Abidemi and I stand at the motion that bullying should not be a crime.
00:17I am Niko Rapu and I stand firmly in support of the motion that states
00:21that bullying should be a crime.
00:22So are we ready for the breakout sessions?
00:24Are we ready?
00:25All right great so let's move to the breakout session and see you soon.
00:30Words can hurt just as much as fists but should they be punished the same way?
00:34No, why would they?
00:35They should, they should be punished.
00:37Why would they be punished the same way? That's not fair.
00:39It is fair because bullying causes psychological trauma, causes things such as anxiety, PTSD.
00:46We cannot ignore the feelings of these people and the hardship of these people
00:49all in the name of protecting the feelings and the comfort of an abuser.
00:53What do you define as bullying?
00:54Bullying is a very thin, very hard to spotlight. Banter and bullying are very confusing.
00:59Bullying is like intentionally harming someone, knowing that you're trying to gain something
01:04out of them and you're trying to put them down.
01:05How do you tell if the person is being bullied but they think it's banter?
01:09Because based on what the victim feels, that's like the main thing.
01:12If it's a crime, how do you plan to sentence them on? Do you plan to use the legal system?
01:16The jury, the courts?
01:17Yes, we plan to use the legal system but it goes step by step. There's a process. First,
01:22we have like for example, if it's underage, we have schools, we have counselling,
01:26we have so many, there's so many other options. Like, the whole point of criminalising doesn't
01:31mean locking someone up. It doesn't mean ruining their lives. It means there's other types and
01:36other ways that we can help bullies become accountable.
01:39He has to go through legal due process, otherwise it's illegal.
01:45Team 1 is already deep in a heated debate, but how will Team 2 kick things off? Could we see some
01:51compromise here? If schools are not effective enough to cause students to be able to face mental
02:01rehabilitation so that they come back better people, then I believe that it's time for legal
02:10repercussions to be administered so that we are sure that students are able to come back
02:17with a different mindset and they're not going to repeat their mistakes from the past.
02:24But don't you think that legal precautions are way too far? Imagine being a 12-year-old and simply just
02:31out of peer pressure or out of confusion, making a tiny little insult and next thing you know,
02:36you're in jail. Imagine the effect that would have on the person.
02:38I think we should also consider how bullies get their behaviour. Majority of bullies actually come
02:43from abusive homes and they experience child neglect. I don't think that these children should be
02:48punished for behaviours that they have learned from their parents, especially if these behaviours
02:52can be resolved with the right intervention. If bullying is criminalised, bullies who have faced
02:58trauma from domestic homes and things like that can actually be given mental help and psychological
03:05help. But why do you have to be named a criminal before you get mental help? You don't have to be named
03:10the criminal before I get mental help. You can get mental help and then receive your criminal punishment.
03:18I don't believe you need to face criminal punishment specifically in order to change one's behaviour
03:24as a bully. Because if you look at the effects of even entering the juvenile justice system,
03:30it has such an adverse impact. I compel you to actually take into consideration
03:37the wellbeing of victims of bullying. For instance now, victims can also develop mental
03:44illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Team 2 is also facing some serious gridlock.
03:50Meanwhile, has Team 1 made any progress?
03:54Okay, so what's the issue with the court?
03:56The issue with the court is it takes too long, it's expensive.
03:59Okay, but that's fine. We're not going to prioritise the fact that, oh, we're not going to say it
04:04because it takes too long, we're going to ignore it. Because it takes too long, we should let the
04:06people that are killing themselves, people that are bullying, continue to kill themselves.
04:09People that are suffering with depression, continue suffering with depression because we don't
04:12want the court to take too long. 30 days, that's fine. And additionally, besides just suicide,
04:17like there's a study that shows that 70% of school shooters have been bullied, threatened throughout
04:23schools. This shows that bullying doesn't just affect the victim, it can affect everyone around
04:27them. And the fact that you're trying to say that we should prioritise time, money or resources over
04:32life is just so inhumane. I don't think it's a, it's not really a feasible issue.
04:37I'll listen to your source. Now, I'd like to use a case study, specifically the EU in Netherlands.
04:41Fun fact in Netherlands, weed is legal. And guess what? They have a lower percent of addicted
04:46drug users in the Netherlands than in the US. So what does that have to do?
04:49They don't criminalise using weed. They bring you there to rehabilitation on your own. You go there
04:54on your own willingly. They don't criminalise it. But weed is not bullying. Like weed is not bullying.
04:58Weed is not the same thing. Bullying is an action that hurts other people. It's the way you handle
05:02bullying cannot be the same way you handle drugs. Some interesting comparisons in team one,
05:08but no real breakthrough yet. And over to team two? We shouldn't ignore the fact that most bullies are just
05:16developmentally immature. Studies have shown that 35 to 45 percent of self-proclaimed bullies say that
05:23they didn't realise the harm they were inflicting or thought it was just joking. Countries with more
05:29ruthless anti-bullying policies have seen a very significant reduction in school-based bullying scenarios.
05:39The justice system is already overwhelmed by a plethora of different cases. How do you expect them to
05:45use all their money and resources effectively? I still believe that bullying should be criminalised,
05:51but maybe not all bullying cases should be treated as severely. What if the bully actually does not
05:58understand the harm and how hurtful their actions were towards the victim? Victims of bullying will feel
06:06a sense of value. I think I agree that bullying may not have to be criminalised,
06:15but I think there should be some sort of legal interventions, maybe fines or community service.
06:23I would like to present a compromise. Instead of giving people fines, which they might not even be
06:30able to pay off, I think we should go for the alternative of temporary restraining orders. This
06:35doesn't go on the bully's criminal record and it also protects the victims from further bullying.
06:42So just to ask Adam what you say, what if in a case where even after this restraining orders,
06:48this bully doesn't stop bullying others, what do you think should happen afterwards?
06:52Well, I think during the time when they have a restraining order, they should also go for
06:56rehabilitative programmes and behavioural treatment. It seems Victor will soon be convinced. Now the big
07:03question, can T1 still pull it together? So since you're saying that bullying should not be criminalised,
07:09what solutions do you give? What solutions do you have to offer to mitigate the problem of bullying?
07:14Because we all know it's a big issue in society right now.
07:17You think putting a crime, you put making a legal title in an underdeveloped country that has barely any
07:22police force, barely anything, corrupted people, do you think that is much better? You think the legal
07:26thing in America is worse? You think the legal thing in America is worse? You think the legal thing in America is worse?
07:38I love this. I love it. And you guys are doing great. Nice. But we need to come to the conclusion, right?
07:44Right. So that's the whole essence of this. So I'll need to know, is anybody changing sides?
07:49I don't know. They have to convince me. You think they are underdeveloped country? How do you go to get an
07:53underdeveloped country to pass a law? Okay, okay, great. So you're saying underdeveloped country,
07:56you can't pass a law. So you're saying you're going to pass a law like that.
07:59Guys, one house, one house, one house. Once again, I love this. I love the fact that you still believe in what
08:05you believe in, right? We have a last round, we have a last session where you have the chance to actually
08:10now talk to your live audience and tell us your point so you can actually convince us. Let's go out and
08:15finalize this, shall we? Yep, sure. Let's go.
08:20Why don't we just come to a conclusion that we can put the bullies into rehabilitation? Because
08:25clearly, if they're repetitively hurting someone, that means that they might have
08:29personal things going on or they're also going through psychological problems that need to be
08:33inspected. So don't you think that the best way to come to an agreement is by putting them in either
08:39rehabilitation centers or like Michaela said, temporary restraining orders? I think as of now,
08:46I've come to a conclusion that is kind of similar to yours. So I agree with you to some extent.
08:54Full on success, at least it seems, Victor has been convinced at first. But will they also be able to
09:00convince the audience? All right, and this is the moment we've all been waiting for. It's time for the
09:05teams to come and actually convince us. Rehabilitation does not have to happen with legal intervention.
09:12We also agreed that majority of bullies learn their behaviors from abusive parents, so they should
09:17be helped rather than punished. We also agreed that criminalizing bullying can destroy futures and
09:23effectively crush job aspirations and upheave education. Great, great. So in my breakout room,
09:30though we were unable to come to a conclusion, some points like the legal system gives fear into what
09:36they're doing, makes people less likely to do it for a race, and also the cost of a jury and a trial and
09:42everything was also raised. Now, if you want to actually convince the audience that's standing here,
09:46what and what are you going to say that you think would be able to buy them to your side? If it was
09:50made illegal, the government would have to take charge of it. That would add millions of dollars, if not
09:56billions of dollars to government spending, government deficit. Let's say bullying becomes
10:01a law. You cannot bully again. You and your best friend used to banter all the time. You could now
10:06be very possibly afraid of your best friend going to the police and reporting you for something you
10:11both of you would consider banter. Oh wow, that's a very, very interesting point, I must say. Just to be
10:17clear, this team here says bullying should not be criminalized, right? All right, thank you very much.
10:22For team two, who are we starting with? All right, Nicole. Bullying is a very serious circumstance.
10:29If you name call, if you bully, you have to answer to the consequences, either if it's through
10:36counseling, either if it's through community service. In one way or the other, the legal system
10:41has to oblige you to do something. Bullying does not only affect the victim but all of us around us,
10:46so we need to make sure to put a stop to it. All right, thank you. But the question is,
10:51have you been convinced or confused? Can we please talk about the fact that bullying can lead to
10:56suicide? That bullying can have strong psychological effects on people? We're just saying that
11:03incarceration isn't the best way to deal with bullying. Why don't we educate instead of
11:09incarcerate, take them to rehabilitation centers, study their thinking patterns, their behavioral patterns,
11:14understand why they behave this way so that they are able to change their behavior so that they won't
11:19hurt other people? Most of the times when you take them to jail, they only get worse. So why don't we
11:23educate instead of incarcerate? Why don't we heal, not harm and teach bullies the impact that it has,
11:30change their mental thinking and their behavioral patterns and show them that bullying actually has
11:36a bad effect on people? Have we been convinced? Are we ready to vote? If team one who believes that
11:44bullying should not be criminalized have been able to convince you today, please raise your cards.
11:49All right, so if team two who believes that bullying should be criminalized has been able
12:00to convince you today, please raise your cards.
12:02All right, so I think this is very clear. Thank you very much and thank you very much to my wonderful
12:14audience. Thank you very much to my wonderful team one and then my wonderful team two. You guys did a
12:19beautiful job. Thank you very much for coming out here and this is a wrap.
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