After 11-year-old Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hanged himself in April 2009 because of being bullied, his state, Massachusetts, chose to pass a strict anti-bullying law in the spring of 2010. Carl’s death prompted the state to do something to stop this behavior from continuing.

Despite elevations in youth suicide in the past five years, alongside school violence, Hawaii has not attempted to do nearly as much to address the rampant bullying problem plaguing its schools. While other states have rallied around schools in creating and enforcing anti-bullying programs, Hawaii has been slow to change.

Defining bullying is an inexact science. But experts say it’s an important part of the effort to address the issue in Hawaii. There are many definitions of bullying, and there is some disagreement about what behaviors constitute bullying.

Many still believe bullying to be a schoolyard phenomenon. They still believe that a bully is one kid who is physically bigger than the rest puts down the victim, simply because they are weaker.

The Oxford Dictionary even defines a bully as “a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.” But a bully can be anyone, and bullying can come in many different forms. According to the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE), bullying is defined as “any written, verbal, graphic, or physical act that a student or group of students exhibits toward other particular student(s) and the behavior causes mental or physical harm to the other student(s); and is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for the other student(s).”

According to the state Department of Health, the rate at which Hawaii teens and young adults are taking their own lives has more than doubled over the past five years; it’s more than just coincidence that bullying has been considered the single-most contributing factor to youth suicide, according to a study published by psychologist A.B. Klomek.

And young people aren’t just killing themselves because of bullying. They are killing others as well. Hawaii has double the national rate of school firearm incidents than any other state in the country. The state also doesn’t require lost gun reports.

The U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center and the U.S. Department of Education found that in two-thirds of 37 school shootings over the last 25 years the attackers had felt “bullied, persecuted, or injured by others” before the attack and that the bullying was often “longstanding and severe.”

In addition, aggressive bullying in schools has caused youth suicides to escalate in recent years. Nearly half of high school students say they have been bullied in ways that seriously upset them, and new research suggests that bullying victims are more likely to try suicide than non-victims.

The prevalence of abuse, coupled with teen suicides, has led at least 43 states and the District of Columbia to pass anti-bullying laws, most since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Hawaii was not one of those states.

The state DOE ensures the enforcement of bullying policies is a priority. The state has tried for years to do something to address the issue of bullying, but the DOE has had little success in following up with action.

The department primarily addresses bullying in an administrative rule known as Chapter 19, which defines bullying, cyberbullying and harassment, listing them as punishable offenses. But the policy lacks enforcement and leaves prevention up to each school.

The department’s website details their work on anti-bullying, which include “administering positive behavioral interventions and supports” and an evidence-based anti-bullying program to Hawaii schools. However, these actions have not been enough to address the increasing amount of bullying and harassment cases in the state each year.

Reports show how serious a concern bullying is in Hawaii. A recent University of Hawaii study, for instance, found that victims of cyberbullying are 2.5 times more likely to binge drink and 3.2 times more likely to attempt suicide. A Hawaii Health Data Warehouse study found that 40 percent of middle school students are bullied on campus. A 2009 DOE survey found that 51 percent of students felt bullied and 63 percent agree it’s a problem.

Similar to the DOE, anti-bullying programs in Hawaii schools define bullying in very broad terms. Another term commonly used is “harassment.”

The department’s definition applies to a student who is harassing, bullying, cyberbullying, annoying or alarming another person by engaging in any number of actions ranging from shoving to prank calling. Laws on harassment, however, are classified under a totally separate bill.

The problem with preventing bullying does not just rest with the state. The public is partly to blame as well. There are many views held on bullying in Hawaii. In the public’s eyes, bullying is still an unclear term. Some believe it’s merely a part of life, something that simply happens, that should come to be accepted. Others vehemently believe that anti-bullying programs should be ruthlessly enforced. There is no simple dividing line when it comes to people’s views on bullying.

Some feel that preventing bullying, especially in the upper grades, would impose upon the students’ First Amendment rights. They believe that if stricter anti-bullying laws were put in place, it would diminish a student’s right to free speech. They argue that by prohibiting offensive speech and conduct, the school would receive a backlash of countless lawsuits for censoring students’ behavior. According to critics, even the policies that are already in place clearly and substantially violate the First Amendment. But these policies lessen or are different, depending on the district. In fact, as long as they comply with the basic laws on bullying and harassment, it is basically left up to the school to decide how and to what extent those policies are enforced.

Studies have shown that people who have been subjected to bullying are five times more likely to suffer from depression, and twice as likely to commit suicide. A person who feels victimized will try to compensate for these feelings by developing habits that can be harmful to themselves and others.

In the case of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, the unprovoked verbal attacks he received from classmates led him to hang himself. Not long ago, Massachusetts was one of eight states that did not have anti-bullying laws in place.

However, Walker-Hoover’s death motivated the state of Massachusetts to engage in legislative efforts to address bullying in schools. It led to the state passing the most effective anti-bullying law in the country.

As it stands, Hawaii has yet to enact any legislation against bullying. Amidst calls for action, including a statewide survey conducted by Qmark Research, which found that 92 percent of people think that bullying is important for the state of Hawaii to address, some laws have been drafted, including the Safe Schools Act, but none have come to fruition.

Until the bullying issue is formally addressed by lawmakers, the situation seems poised to continue unabated.