Now people convicted of cyber-bullying and abuse will face up to 2 years in jail, according to the new law backed by the government. Indeed, the justice secretary has backed an amendment to the criminal justice bill which would effectively target new rules at combating Internet trolls who sexually harass and verbally abuse people online in England and Wales.
This amendment is scheduled to be discussed in parliament after being proposed by one of the Conservative MPs. This happened after one of her constituents complained that her 14-year-old daughter had been “verbally raped” by two thousand obscene text messages sent by an older man, who ultimately escaped conviction. The fresh amendment to criminal justice bill is supposed to make life harder for cyber-bullies and sex pests who prefer texts to harass victims.
The legislators explain that the amendment in question would allow for greater penalties of up to 2 years in jail. It will also extend the period of time made available to authorities trying to launch difficult cases against such offenders. At the moment, offences like online trolling in the UK fall under the Malicious Communications Act, and can only be tried in a magistrates’ court.
The proposed draft came after a string of high-profile abuse cases which involved social networks and text messages. For example, a couple of abusers of the feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez were jailed two months ago for subjecting her to threats of violence and rape on Twitter. This happened after she launched a campaign for more women to be represented on banknotes.
In the meantime, the Labor Minister for Culture, Media and Sport also called for a clear legal framework to address the problem of online bullying and the suicides of vulnerable young people, after the deaths of Tallulah Wilson and Hannah Smith.
The first teenager died in 2012 aged 15 being hit by a train. Later it turned out that she had developed an alternative fantasy life on the Internet. Last year, 14-year-old Hannah Smith took her own life after being bullied on Ask.fm.
The legislators confirmed that a committee will discuss the proposed amendment in parliament in the next few days, and it will be added to the changes to laws to be voted on in 2014.
