In a Tampa middle school locker room, prosecutors say four flag football players held down a younger teammate and committed a horrifying assault: Raping him with a hockey stick and a broom handle.
"Don't do it again or this is going to happen to you again," a witness says he heard one of the boys say in the April attack.
Two decades ago, the attack may have stayed a secret. Victims of hazing, bullying and sexual assault are still often too terrified to report their attackers — though officials say that's starting to change.
Police are called to investigate everything from cyber-bullying and schoolyard fights to brutal hazing rituals, and tormenters can be prosecuted under anti-bullying laws in dozens of states. Proactive parents aren't afraid to confront school officials or take the matter to court, and schools are training students and teachers alike to spot and report bullying.
"Back in the old days it was, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,'" said Kevin Quinn, a school resource officer in Arizona and regional director of the National Association of School Resource Officers. "In today's day and age, words do hurt and that's how a lot of the bullying begins."
Thirty-two percent of students ages 12 to 18 nationwide had experienced bullying within the past school year in 2007, according to a report by the U.S. Education Department and the U.S. Justice Department. That number was slightly higher than the year before — though officials say it's not because bullying is more frequent, but because it's more often reported.
Actions by parents, including filing lawsuits, is picking up as well.
"Don't do it again or this is going to happen to you again," a witness says he heard one of the boys say in the April attack.
Two decades ago, the attack may have stayed a secret. Victims of hazing, bullying and sexual assault are still often too terrified to report their attackers — though officials say that's starting to change.
Police are called to investigate everything from cyber-bullying and schoolyard fights to brutal hazing rituals, and tormenters can be prosecuted under anti-bullying laws in dozens of states. Proactive parents aren't afraid to confront school officials or take the matter to court, and schools are training students and teachers alike to spot and report bullying.
"Back in the old days it was, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,'" said Kevin Quinn, a school resource officer in Arizona and regional director of the National Association of School Resource Officers. "In today's day and age, words do hurt and that's how a lot of the bullying begins."
Thirty-two percent of students ages 12 to 18 nationwide had experienced bullying within the past school year in 2007, according to a report by the U.S. Education Department and the U.S. Justice Department. That number was slightly higher than the year before — though officials say it's not because bullying is more frequent, but because it's more often reported.
Actions by parents, including filing lawsuits, is picking up as well.
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