또래괴롭힘(bullying)의 개념과 법적규율 -학교폭력예방 및 대책에 관한 법률과 관련하여-

School violence and bullying are worldwide trends with various negative effects including victim’s suicide. The prevention of school violence and bullying are major concern of national policy of Korea. Korea has passed anti-school violence law named “Act on the Prevention of and Countermeasures Against School Violence”. Article 2 of the Act defines school violence and bullying. However the definitions of school violence and bullying are too broad and too vague. The term school violence used in the Act includes battery, assault, confinement, abduction, defamation, insult, extortion, coercion, forced errand, sexual violence, bullying and cyber-bullying. The problem is that the definition of school violence includes both criminal behaviors and non-criminal behaviors such as bullying. It causes the vagueness of the definition. One of the major factors leading to school violence is bullying. However, bullying is different from school violence because bullying involves repeated behaviors that shows imbalance of power. Thus, this paper argues that the Korea Act has to focus on bullying and define bullying more specifically. This kind of revision will contribute to better understanding and effective application of the Act.