Under new Tennessee law, teens caught bullying, cyber-bullying can lose driver's license

Tennessee has passed a law that will allow for teens' driver's licenses to be suspended if found to have committed an act of bullying or cyber-bullying. 

"I simply got tired of nothing being done to stop bullying,” bill sponsor state GOP Rep. Lowell Russell told CNN.

For a teen to receive such a punishment, they would have to be adjudicated delinquent, which essentially means a court would have found them guilty of such an attack had they been an adult. 

Such teens can have their license suspended for a year or lose the ability to obtain a driver's license for a year, according to the bill.

However, the bill allow for teens to have a restricted license to drive to work, school and church, but not to social or extracurricular activities.

“Bullying can cause long-term harm that results in mental health problems later in a person’s life," Russell also said. "Most acts of violence and suicides are noted as the result of being bullied."

Scott Payne, outreach and support manager for Contact Care Line told local TV station WVL8: “I think it’s great that the state is stepping up to try to do something about bullying. I would like to see, going forward, movement toward working with the bullies. 

"You know, bullies aren’t just born; they don’t just pop up. They’re products of their environment. So we need to be talking with them and finding out what’s going on in their lives that’s bringing about this type of behavior from them.”