IMU Law Faculty member Asst.Prof. Zeynep ARDIÇ presented her paper titled “New Searches in Combating Cyberbullying: Using Restorative Justice Mechanisms in Schools” at the 2nd International Symposium on Information and Technology Law organized on November 19-20, 2022 in Üsküdar Bilim Merkezi through the collaboration of IMU and Information and Technology Law Association.
Referring to the acceleration of digitalization in education with the Covid-19 pandemic, ARDIÇ said that such a rapid digitalization brings some risks and dangers; she also stated that cyberbullying is one of them.
ARDIÇ stated that cyberbullying causes physical and mental illnesses and harms social protection system; that traditional disciplinary mechanisms, which are a reflection of classical criminal justice, will be insufficient in solving this problem; that it is necessary to adopt restorative discipline practices as an alternative.
According to ARDIÇ, restorative justice mechanisms designed as an alternative to traditional criminal justice (rather than just an approach focused on crime, criminal and punishment) such as eliminating the individual and social harm that occurs, preventing re-offending by rehabilitating the perpetrator, compensating the damage suffered by the victim, embodies broader and long-term objectives. In this context, it is a promising innovative method to adopt restorative discipline practices that aim to eliminate the harm that has occurred rather than to punish children who engage in cyberbullying behaviors.