Once again, we see the consequences of unsupervised Internet use by children.  Jessica is 11 years old and lives in Florida.  She goes by the screenname of Jessi Slaughter.  Jessi’s computer is in her bedroom where she creates webcam videos and socializes in chat rooms.
Jessi recently received bullying messages from “haters,” as she calls them, while [...]

Judge Tom Jacobs, the creator and moderator of this site, appeared as a guest on Dr. Phil on April 8, 2010. The issue discussed was bullying and the recent tragic suicide of Phoebe Prince in Massachusetts who was bullied to death.  Read more about Phoebe Prince and the teenagers now facing criminal charges.
Judge Tom’s latest book Teen Cyberbullying [...]

Why wait for a court hearing and a judge to hand out a sentence for breaking a law?  In Southlake, Texas, the parents of 16-year-old Kirstin Rausch decided to nip her curfew violation in the bud.
Robert Rausch placed an ad in the local paper offering his daughter’s babysitting services for free. For breaking her curfew, [...]

High school senior, Lynda Lopez, had done all the hard work and looked forward to a great college experience. The Illinois resident had applied for universities and scholarships in her junior year. Then in October, 2009, she received word that she was a finalist for a full scholarship to two universities. Before going out to [...]

Larry King was 15 and in the 8th grade at E.O. Green junior High in California.  He had told a friend that he was gay and began cross-dressing and wearing makeup to class.  Larry was bullied at school, and some of his teachers tried to help him.  Girls at school used their cell phones to [...]

Copyright is the protection by law of an original work  -  including music, books, movies and other creative works.  Federal laws provide the registered owner of a copyright exclusive control over the property for a set number of years.
Copyrights are issued and regulated by the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D. C..  The United  States [...]

President Obama receives 65,000 letters a week.  He has made it a practice to read 10 every day and he personally responds to a handful.  In March, 2010, he received a letter from 11-year-old Ziainey Stokes, a fifth-grader from Pennsylvania.
Ziainey kept up with the news on TV and in the newspaper.  After reading about a [...]

Recent events in Florida middle schools have prompted school districts to develop anti-bullying programs.  In October, 2009, Michael Brewer was assaulted and set on fire in a bicycle theft incident.  The 7th-grader survived and the kids involved were prosecuted. 
Then, in March, 2010, an 8th grade student was beaten at a bus stop for texting a 15 [...]

All it takes is a computer, an MP3 player and headphones.  Getting high on the Internet is a new phenomenon called “i-dosing.”  Audio files induce drug-like effects by altering brain waves and one’s mental state.  The music is described by some as a droning noise.
Online dealers offer to hook you up with digital drugs that [...]

Jeanne Mundango Manunga and her boyfriend broke up in 2008.  The 25-year-old didn’t take it well and decided to get even with him.  Jeanne purchased a pre-paid cell phone in the name of the boyfriend’s sister-in-law and began to send herself threatening messages.
On at least 19 occasions she went to three different police stations to [...]

The Internet age has led to a different kind of teen bullying called cyberbullying.  A website’s prefix “www” stands for World Wide Web but users should also understand that it means the “Whole World is Watching.”  
Every online message or post is retrievable regardless of the “delete” or “trash” buttons. Once you hit “send” it’s out [...]

 In May, 2010, two students at Williams Field High School in  Arizona decided to set off the sprinkler heads on the second floor of their school building.   They used a lighter to activate the sprinkler system.  The water caused damage in eight classrooms including the carpet, ceilings, electrical outlets and baseboards.  Repairs came to $170,000.
After [...]

2009 witnessed an 83% increase over 2008 in the number of teenagers caught smuggling drugs into Arizona from Mexico.  130 minors were apprehended  -  most were Americans with family members in Mexico.
Drug cartels recruit the teens telling them they won’t face major punishment if caught.  Once arrested and charged, the teens find out differently.  In [...]

Traditional bullying involves face-to-face taunts  -  where the victim knows who the bully is.  It has escalated to cyberbullying sometimes by an anonymous source.  Cyberbullies hide behind their computers and cell phones to wreak havoc on their victims.
A survey was conducted recently in Finland.  Over 2200 teens between the ages of 13 and 16 were [...]

A California law school refused to recognize a Christian student group that refused membership to gays. The Christian Legal Society was an organization of Christian lawyers and law students. They applied for recognition on the campus of Hastings College of Law. The benefits of being an official campus organization included access on campus to a meeting place, [...]