Four years ago, I facilitated a restorative practice called a "community justice forum" involving 6 teens who had hazed two younger teens. These young people all belonged to a Provincial sports team. The forum consisted of 26 people, ranging from the victims, the offenders, their support people and members of the Provincial sports team hierarchy. The process took over 2 1/2 hours and the results were remarkable. The process allowed the victims a voice, gave the hierarchy a completely different view of how seriously affected the victims had been, and gained deep remorse from the offenders and their family members. To my knowledge, the offenders have never been involved in this kind of incident again.

Punishment inflicted by the law and by the school system does not bring about meaningful change in youth who commit these acts. Put them through a restorative process and they finally understand the impact of their action for which they take full responsibility. A formal agreement is reached, setting conditions for the future, and then the offending youth are welcomed back into their sports community. The victims and their families are fully satisfied with the outcome and peace is restored.

Excellent piece!!!

High school hazing has been around a long time. I entered highschool in sept. 1984. I'd been traumatised a few years earlier seeing older kids being covered in marker and having eggs smashed on their heads just because they were entering high school. My trauma came from a background of bullying. All throughout primary school I was the one being bullied in the schoold yard. High school hazing became my biggest nightmare, because I knew that I'd be a prime target and that the bullies wouldn't hold back. In the summer preceding grade 9, I stayed home. I never went out unaccompanied. I lived in fear. My mother insisted that dad buy a new car so she would have the old one to drive me to school in the morning and pick me up at the end of the day. I didn't get hazed in the end. But I think that the fear of it was punishing enough. I'll be forever grateful to my mom for being my driver. She protected me from my tormentors - getting out of her car a number of times to prevent a few attacks that first week of september 1984. And yes, I wonder what would have happened if she hadn't been there.

Five years later, I started university, and hazing never crossed my mind. Bullying for me was never a problem in high school, I found my place and was much happier than in primary school.

It's nothing new at the high school level. Twenty years ago when I was in high school, the whole thing was even organized and condoned by the school administration. Each grade 13 student was assigned a grade nine student and on a given day they were your personal slave. You were encouraged to dress them up strangely and have them do ridiculous things as they had to hang around with you between classes and at lunch. I thought about that recently and how odd it seems that the school organized such a thing. Maybe it was to have some controlled conduit for the initiations/hazing, rather than having it all happen unofficially in the shadows. But I still think it's strange and frankly I'm embarrassed to have taken part. But everyone did, it was an official school activity. Strange.

Hazing = Bullying....that's the first point.

I expect that had the 'hazed' students been 6'4", 220lbb; That they would have been strategically avoided. I reckon they were the scrawny type and thus easy pickings.

In any case, I'm happy that the law is finally getting involved in bullying cases simply because there is no other mechanism that exists to maintain safety. Once upon time, a bare knuckles fight could resolve a bullying episode but those times are long gone with any insubordination by the weakling being punished with weaponry rather than skin.

Kids should feel safe and secure in their learning environment.

If a person is not a will person, therefore it is considered "Bullying" is it not?
My heart goes out to those grade 9ers.

I went through highschool just fine. Mind you, I was as tall as the smaller Gr.12's when I was in Gr. 9. A group of them would have to think twice about taking me on, cause I would see them all, individualy, in the hallways at school the next day.

Oh, a word of warning to would be hazers for when my son goes to highschool - he just earned his green belt in karate

You guys are ridiculous. The poor old bleeding hearts come out of the woodwork for these stories eh? Maybe if kids wern't coddled and protected so much, they'd learn to deal with situations on their own? Give it a rest. The story said they were "beaten bad enough to produce bruises." OH MY GOD, NO BRUISES!!!!!!!!!!! get a life.

@ Richard Kennett. Thank you for sharing about the work you did with the "Community Justice Forum." I did some research and was fascinated and impressed by what I found out about the 'restorative practice' you're referring to. As you said in an article, "...most of us grew up with the retributive system. But inflicting pain on those who do wrong, and trying to bring about change by punishing them just doesn't work." That's an important message maybe more of us need to be reminded of more often. Thank you for bringing it to the discussion. Here's a link for readers who would like to learn more: http://www.winnipegcommitteeforsafety.org/uploads/YouthJustice03.pdf

@ Jay. It was sad and disturbing to read about how traumatized you were in primary school by all of the bullying you endured. Even more sad to read how you lived in fear the summer before you started grade 9, worried about what would happen once you started school in the Fall.

I'm glad your mom supported you in a way that made you feel safe, and that in the end, bullying was never an issue for you in high school or something you even had to think about while in university.

As Nester already said so perfectly, kids should feel safe and secure in their learning environment.

To Paul "You guys are ridiculous. . . ."

You make the statement "Maybe if kids wern't coddled and protected so much . . ." I am thinking you made this in response to my description of a community justice forum process. My apologies if I am wrong about this assumption but if I am correct, then I need to explain further. In a community justice forum, the young offenders are by no means "coddled and protected".

At the beginning of the process, they are asked to explain to all those present "what happened during the incident? What were their thoughts at that time? What are their thoughts now that they look back upon the incident? Who do they think was affected by what they did, and in what way? How would they look to repair the harm that they have done?"

This is excruciatingly difficult, uncomfortable and shaming for the offender. This isn't experienced by the offender as "coddling and protecting". This is accountability! The victims then look the offender in the eyes and state how they were affected and then they state what they need from the offender in order to be able to get on with their lives. The offender then hears from all the other people in the circle.

This is extremely uncomfortable for the offender, and, if you're looking to make the offender feel this way, you have succeeded. It seems like this would please you.

If you, Paul, are open to new ideas and would like to learn more about this process, please say so. If you're interested in evidence-based processes that really reduce recidivism (repeated offences) you have found one. The evidence is irrefutable. Victim satisfaction is exponentially higher than when an offender is tried in court, and repeated offences decrease as much as 54% over those that go through the retributive, punitive, archaic court systems. If your goal with "justice" is to inflict pain and retribution, I can see why you like the traditional system. If your goal is to restore peace in the community and have the offender become stronger, so as not to repeat his/her offence, then there are evidence-based restorative processes that will do this

Call me a bleeding heart if you like but faced with a child who in Grade 1 is talking about suicide from being bullied, my heart will bleed forever and I will do whatever I can to make sure he is safe.

There were no physical bruises.

Richard, I have read of this in native communities and am glad to see that it's being used effectively.

That's public high school for you. Sounds horrible...

AK - Give me a break. It's a public high schools, catholic, private, and non-private. Its everywhere. Hazing and bullying are not indicative of public school.

Wow, these comments are depressing. Are we this divorced from reality? People, take a break from your committees and healing forums and enter the real world for a moment. (a) high school 'hazing' has been around since grade 9 has and isn't going to disappear just because we want it to (b) schools should manage it not ban it because we need to see and stop it when it goes over the line and (c) why doesn't anyone keep in mind the law of unintended consequences? Excessive preventative measures just forces it out of the school where it can get out of hand more easily and without oversight. Is it going away b/c we don't allow it? Nope, we just ban it and then we're legally OK b/c we pushed it out of our domain.

When I was in school, our grade 9 initiation ritual was called the "Grade 9 Olympics." It was a school-sanctioned event that took a half-day to complete, and consisted of a fund-raising auction for groups of 9ers, followed by a handful of approved activities for those students to compete in. Those activities included bobbing for gumballs in garlic powder and flour, stuffing marshmallows in your mouth, three-legged races, and so on--in other words, it was all in good fun, was done in the safety of groups, and was under the watchful eye of the school officials. It's sad that these things aren't allowed anymore, because nobody I know got hazed worse than being taped to one of their friends and asked to run a race while the grade 13s laughed at them when they inevitably fell.

Anything involving cruelty, violence, or abject humiliation was banned, as was anything that could alter a person's appearance (such as shaving heads, etc...). By the following week, everybody knew our names, and it was suddenly cool to hang out with the older kids.

You have to go through Grade 9 to get to Grade 12. Those committing the 'hazing' know what it feels like.

NO! high schools are not safe. colleges are safer than high schools. i think my first few days ruined my entire high school experience.

As a High School teacher during the 70's and 80's I regularly protested the "freshie day" activities. If the grade 12's had done the same things any other day of the year they would have been expelled but for one day of the year the school actually encouraged them to humiliate the grade 9's. I was so glad to move to a school where the principal had the guts to refuse to allow it. After the initial shock wore off the whole thing disappeared.

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