Happy slapping

Happy slapping is a fad in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault (commonly with a camera phone or a smartphone). The name can refer to any type of violent assault, not just slapping.

Happy slapping filming attacks seem to be common in modern bullying, and not unique to happy slapping. The core defining feature of happy slapping is an effort by the attacker to make the assault seem like play , though some happy slappers have indulged in extreme violence.

Often those found performing such activities will say they were just "happy slapping", asserting that they were just kidding .

Use with video technology

Although the concept of filming a crime is an old one, the ease and general availability of video cameras in mobile phones means that such attacks need not be planned carefully beforehand and are more easily watched and circulated for comedy purposes afterwards. Some political and media commentators have accused Jackass and Dirty Sanchez of inspiring slappings. Others believe they should be viewed and treated as a moral panic.

Happy slapping can be more violent than a mere slap (causing criticism of its name) and may include a strike or even actual bodily harm. Sometimes the assault is performed with other crimes, such as mugging and rape. At least two incidents have resulted in the death of the victim.

History

Happy Slapping is known to have started in South London ([1]) ([2]), in a format known as "Slap TV", where a happy-slapping video would be recorded, and then watched over by dozens of people like a TV show. The first newspaper article to ever use the phrase 'happy slapping' was "Bullies film fights by phone", published in The Times Educational Supplement on January 21, 2005, in which reporter Michael Shaw described teachers' accounts of the craze in London schools.

Media-reported incidents

By necessity, the incidents are listed by the time of media attention, not the time of the attacks themselves.

• December 2005: The manslaughter of David Morley. A 15 year-old-girl, Chelsea O'Mahoney (initially not named in the media for legal reasons, this later changed at the sentencing to name and shame her.[3]) and her co-defendants Reece Sargeant, 21, Darren Case, 18, and a youth, David Blenman, 17, were all found guilty of the manslaughter of David Morley near Waterloo Station, in London. Barry Lee, 20, and another 17-year-old were cleared of all charges. According to press reports, "The 15-year-old girl had told Morley that she was making a documentary about 'happy slapping' before her gang of friends kicked him to death." [4] [5]

• Northern Ireland, 2005: Groups of Northern Irish youths filmed vicious attacks on firecrews. Two were convicted for setting fire to a man during such an incident.

• UK, 8 June, 2005: A 17-year-old girl was shot with an air rifle and filmed in Wortley area of Leeds.

• UK, 18 June, 2005: Police arrested three 14-year-old boys for the suspected rape of an 11-year-old girl who attended their school. Authorities were alerted when school staff saw footage from the students' mobile phones.

• Sweden, 5 June 2005: The day before the Swedish National day, newspapers carried articles claiming that hate-groups of left-wing activists (AntiFascist Action, Revolutionary Front, etc.) had committed attacks against neo-Nazis, which had been filmed. An attack committed on a crowded subway station had been so brutal that witnesses thought the Nazi skinhead had died, but he survived with head wounds. The activists had previously filmed and published a riot with police in the Stockholm suburb of Salem in 2003 ([6]).

• Denmark, March 2006: Newspapers reported that a 16-year-old girl had been arrested for participating in an episode of "happy slapping". She was standing with a good view of the scene, filming the incident on her mobile phone. Witnesses told the police that the attack looked planned. The attacker is still at large (no serious injuries or deaths have yet been reported as a result of such activity in Denmark).

April 5 2006: The 2 attackers were sentenced 6 and 8 months in jail for this attack. The 2 kids said it was a spur of the moment attack, but the judge did not believe them, and hence used the premeditated attack sentence, where a non-premeditated attack only can give 40 days prison.

• Denmark, 6 March 2006: Two young boys aged 10 and 7 were attacked by older boys, who hit and kicked them. The assailants filmed everything on their mobile phones.

• Hungary, 22 March 2006: Six young boys attacked another boy in a classroom by pulling him into a corner, then punching and kicking him. This attack has been filmed on one of the boy's mobile phone two weeks before the report.

• Belgium, 24 March 2006: A 15-year-old handicapped boy was beaten up by 10 pupils from the same school.

• Belgium, 3 April 2006: The news program Telefacts broadcast a documentary about "happy slapping" in the country. It mentioned two cases: one with a 15-year-old victim, another about a 37-year-old mentally handicapped person who was held hostage for a few days in his house while being beaten and tortured. In the latter case, one of the "gang members" was threatened by the others that if he informed anyone about what was happening, he would become a victim, instead of a participant. Telefacts also mentioned that the imprisoned gang leader still threatens his victim.

• France, 24 April 2006: A teacher was beaten up in class by a 18-year-old pupil, because she reproached him for being late. This was recorded by another pupil in the class with his cellphone. The man was arrested and released the following day.

• Denmark, May 10 2006: Yet another case was reported in the newspapers. Two men aged 17 and 19 attacked a woman in Copenhagen, one kicking the victim while the other filmed the incident using a mobile phone. Two plain clothes police officers saw the whole incident, and the assailants were immediately arrested and the mobile phone confiscated.

External links

• Happy Slapping (Italian)
• Reporting about happy slapping - France
• Concern over rise of 'happy slapping' craze
• Happy slapping increasingly slap-happy?
• Does 'happy slapping' exist?
• Mother rages at 'slap attackers'
• Happy Slaps: A London View
• Happy Slaps: Fact and Fiction
• How I unwittingly helped to start the Happy Slaps panic