Bill Text: MS HR36 | 2018 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Bullying crisis; acknowledge and recognize link to suicide among Mississippi youth.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2018-03-01 - Enrolled Bill Signed [HR36 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2018-HR36-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2018 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Representative Bain
House Resolution 36
(As Adopted by House)
A RESOLUTION ACKNOWLEDGING THE WIDESPREAD BULLYING CRISIS IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, RECOGNIZING THAT THE SUICIDE RATE IN MISSISSIPPI IS LINKED TO THIS CRISIS AND ENCOURAGING CONTINUED EFFORTS TO FIND A SOLUTION TO THIS CRISIS IN MISSISSIPPI.
WHEREAS, the suicide statistics in Mississippi are truly telling: suicide is the second leading cause of death for individuals who are between the ages of 10 and 24, more than 635 individuals between the ages of 10 and 24 have committed suicide since 2000, one person commits suicide every 20 hours, and the annual suicide cost in Mississippi is $456,045,000.00, which is the combined lifetime medical and employment loss for 2010, or approximately $1,175,372.00 per suicide; and
WHEREAS, an average of 1,850 youths in the United States commit suicide each year, and the number of suicide attempts has risen dramatically throughout the past decade, with 55% of these attempts being among middle-school-aged youth and 35% among high school youth, and the National Center for Disease Control has noted that there is a close relationship between bullying behavior and suicide-related behavior, and youth who report any involvement with bullying behavior are more likely to report high levels of suicide-related behavior than youth who do not report any involvement with bullying behavior; and
WHEREAS, there have been numerous heartbreaking cases recently in Mississippi where a child has either taken their own life or has attempted to take their own life due to being harassed and tormented by bullies, such as the case of Lyndsey Aust, a fifteen-year-old student from Forest, Mississippi, who endured relentless harassment because of her appearance at Scott County Central High School, and on March 26, 2012, she skipped class, waited for her father to come home from work and then went into her bedroom and shot herself, dying the next day, this happening just a few weeks after one of Lyndsey's classmates, Jasmine Murrell, had hanged herself in her yard; and
WHEREAS, Elneshia, a fourteen-year-old high school freshman student from Horn Lake, Mississippi, attempted suicide by overdosing on her diabetes medicine, desperately trying to end the years of torture she had endured at the hands of a few classmates who constantly harassed her about her weight; and
WHEREAS, a 10-year-old student at McCoy Elementary in Yazoo City, Mississippi, was so affected by bullying that he left a suicide note at school saying that he would kill himself if the bullying did not stop, and it was three days after the incident that his grandparents were notified by the school of the suicide note, but only after his grandfather had inquired about an incident where his grandson was kicked in the groin and threatened with murder; and
WHEREAS, in our neighboring state of Alabama, Dajia Lee, a twelve-year-old student hanged herself in her closet because she had been tormented by a group of girls at her school, this happening shortly after another Alabama student, Alex Moore, ended her life by jumping from an Interstate 65 overpass due to being harassed at school by bullies; and
WHEREAS, because bullying is linked to the suicide rate among young people, other states have become more aware of this issue and have taken a more serious approach to the consequences of bullying, such as recently in Massachusetts, where Conrad Roy, III died after he used a portable water pump to fill his vehicle with carbon monoxide, and while searching his cell phone, law enforcement discovered that his girlfriend, Michelle Carter, had been encouraging him to kill himself via text messages, and that while he was sitting in his car on that tragic day, he talked to her on the phone for 47 minutes and she encouraged him to stay in the vehicle, and in 2017 she was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two and a half years in prison, with fifteen months of that sentence being mandatory; and
WHEREAS, currently, Mississippi law does not require that any written records be maintained of bullying incidents, only that the incidents be reported to the appropriate school officials, that school districts have policies that prohibit bullying and adopt procedures for reporting, and that school policies recognize the fundamental right of the student to take reasonable action to defend himself or herself from an attack, but despite these anti-bullying laws that were passed in 2010, the rate of suicides among Mississippi's youth due to bullying have not decreased; and
WHEREAS, the House of Representatives recognizes that there is a widespread bullying crisis that is linked to the suicide rate among the state's youth and that a strong, focused and coordinated effort is required to provide a solution to this tragic crisis that is endangering the lives of Mississippi's children:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby acknowledge the widespread bullying crisis in the State of Mississippi, recognize that the suicide rate in Mississippi is linked to this crisis and encourage continued efforts to find a solution to this crisis in our great Magnolia State.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Ms. Olivia Knight and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.
