Perceptions of Punishment Risks Among Youth: Can Cyberbullying Be Deterred?

ABSTRACT While the philosophy of deterrence has long been rooted in the criminal justice system and has informed policy and programming, the results of such strategies have been mixed. A handful of research efforts have focused on the relationship between various deterrence perspectives and cyberbullying; however, few address this issue in a non-Western context. To develop a more comprehensive assessment of cyberbullying deterrence and perceptions of punishment among adolescents, this study utilizes a large-scale data set collected from Taiwan. Results indicate a negative association between cyberbullying and a sense of the certainty of punishment from authorities. Moreover, perceptions of the severity of punishment decrease the propensity for cyberbullying behavior.