After the development of Jodi’s Voice it became clear that a void was still present in the services. Reports of cyber-bullying ending in violence are skyrocketing while our children are leaving home without the skills and education to prevent and cope with these relevant problems.
We all want what is best for our children. We want them to learn and experience new things and often the Internet becomes the place for them to find these things. However, there are alarming numbers of our kids now finding more than education online. 42% of kids of been bullied online while 1 in 4 have had it happened more than once (isaf.org). Too often people trivialize bullying almost as a right of passage to adulthood; however, 35% of ids have been threatened online while nearly 1 in 5 report the threats happening more than once. When does this cross the line into stalking/cyber-stalking? Stalking often consists of many non-criminal acts that become a crime when the victim begins to reasonably feel fear. Recent cases of cyber-bullying suicides have left the children/young adults so fearful of what is happening that they commit suicide. Is it bullying or stalking?
According to recent studies 1 in 8 college-aged women had been stalked during the studies 6-9month period (National Sexual Victimization of College Women Survey). Why college campuses? Campus stalkers can easily familiarize themselves with their victim’s schedule and campus dorms do not have the privacy that exists in the average home or apartment. However, we are sending our children to college with knowledge of several threats and crimes, but often without the knowledge of how dangerous a stalker can be.
While these incidents are becoming all too common our children are not ready to hear another adult telling them to be careful. In order to be effective the message had to come from “one of their own.” After witnessing the death of her babysitter, Jodi Sanderholm and the subsequent changes that were implemented under Jodi’s Law, one fourteen year old decided it was time to take the message to the teens. Morgan has rallied her friends (locally and virtually) to implement a message for teens by teens to help end cyber-bullying and stalking!
Voice of Teens launched under Jodi’s Voice in the Fall of 2010 with a small but dedicated group of teenage volunteers. Watch their progress grow at www.VoiceofTeens.org.
Jodi’s Voice teens are proud to participate in the 2011 For the Sake of Peace Festival.
Join Us!