Throughout the history of high school, bullies have roamed the hallways looking to dole out pain to their victims. In return, the worst punishment they received was often an afternoon in detention. Now, bullies could be sent past an afternoon at school and directly to prison. This is no April Fool’s joke. A recent situation in Massachusetts could land a group of bullying students in jail after their actions led to the suicide of a young girl.

Phoebe Prince was a 15-year-old student at South Hadley High School. Her family had recently immigrated to South Hadley from Ireland and Phoebe had to go through a tough transition into a new school. Unfortunately, after a brief relationship with a football player, Phoebe became the target of intense bullying by both male and female students.

The treatment Phoebe received wasn’t playful hazing of the new kid. It was pure cruelty. A group of peers were jealous of the new girl’s good looks and the fact she was dating a football player. So for the next few months, Phoebe faced a relentless assault of verbal and physical attacks aimed to humiliate her. After being harassed at school, outside of school and on Facebook, Phoebe Prince chose to take her own life after a particularly brutal day.

After a thorough investigation, District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel brought charges against a group of nine students accused of being part of the bullying. The charges weren’t just a slap on the wrist, and include violation of civil rights with bodily injury resulting, criminal harassment and assault by means of a dangerous weapon. The resulting sentences could give these teenagers jail time.

Bullying has been a problem in high schools around the country for a long time. I’m sure many people can remember being bullied, seeing someone bullied or being the bully themselves. Those who have been harassed in the hallways know the pain and suffering that result. If you were a bully and don’t feel completely and utterly ashamed already, you should. Even the most minuscule things done to harass a peer can have deep and lasting impacts.

Almost just as bad are those who sit by and do nothing as someone is continually harassed. The bullying of Phoebe was commonly known to most of the school, administration included. Even when at least four students and two staff members tried to intervene, enforcement of school rules didn’t go far enough. Even though the school’s lack of action wasn’t considered criminal, it’s still unbelievable they let things go this far.

Massachusetts isn’t the only state that’s dealing with this problem. This week, the Georgia House of Representatives passed an anti-bullying law aimed to protect students. The legislation would require the notification of the parents of both bullies and victims when a situation is discovered, and also requires age-appropriate punishment for children from kindergarten to twelfth grade who bully students. This all stemmed from a situation similar to Phoebe’s where eleven-year-old Jaheem Herrera committed suicide after constantly receiving anti-gay taunts from fellow students.

Unfortunately, the bullying problem doesn’t end with high school. It can still be a problem in the work place, your neighborhood or a variety of situations. It’s necessary for the public to take a stand against all forms of bullying, including cyber bullying through outlets like Facebook. We need to stop the bullying we encounter, as well as teach children how to intervene in a bullying situation.

One of the harder things is making sure our children aren’t being bullies. A major problem inherent in this is when parents refuse to believe their child is a bully or even encourage the poor behavior.

The world lost two wonderful young people when Phoebe Prince and Jaheem Herrera committed suicide. The direct cause of this terrible loss is the harassment they received from fellow students. Whether the result of low self-esteem, a cry for attention or just evil intentions, bullying by both young people and adults must be stopped.

Fortunately for me, being teased for my lack of height ended when I grew nine inches at the beginning of high school, and a lot were jokes I viewed as harmless. But there are students out there who are victims of constant harassment based on looks, beliefs or actions. Maybe detention behind bars will finally teach those bullies a lesson.

Micah is a senior in LAS.