Did Anti-Bullying laws work?

Laws preventing bullying in schools are commonplace now. It was not always so. This program from 2001 examines the debate around an anti-bullying law sponsored by then-Democratic State Representative Ed Murray, who argues for the law. Republican state representative and first-grade teacher Gigi Talcott argues there is a problem, but not one fixed by new laws. She advocates for a character education programs instead. Callers graphically describe violence committed against them and the trauma they endured. Joan Duffel of the Committee for Children describes their anti-bullying program The anti-bullying legislation discussed here was eventually passed. Fourteen years after this program a 2015 survey found in states where the laws followed at least one of the Department of Education recommendations for anti-bullying policies, teens were 24 percent less likely to report being the victim of bullying and 20 percent less likely to report cyber-bullying.