The bully him/herself obviously has problems and insecurities that need to be addressed and resolved. And actually, some of these issues are quite alarming;

"Causes of bullying
Parental relationship
Bullies tend to come from families that are characterized as having little warmth or affection. These families also report trouble sharing their feelings and usually rate themselves as feeling less close to each other. Parent of bullies also tend to use inconsistent discipline and little monitoring of where their children are throughout the day. Sometimes parents of bullies have very punitive and rigid discipline styles, with physical punishment being very common. Bullies also report less feelings of closeness to their siblings.

School failure
Bullies are usually not model students. Very often they are not doing well in school and do not have good connections with their teachers.

Peer rejection
Researchers who are interested in how children form relationships with their peers have identified four categories that describe how children relate to peers, based on having children name children that they like as well as children that they don t like:

Popular children are those that many children say they like, and few children say that they dislike. These children have developed positive social and communication skills.
Controversial children are both actively liked and disliked by many of their peers. They tend to have good social skills, but also exhibit aggressive behavior. Class clowns often fit into this category.
Rejected children are actively disliked by many of their peers and well liked by few of their peers. They show high rates of conflict, aggression, and immature play, and they have trouble taking the perspective of another person. They also have a hard time solving problems without resorting to violence. Rejected children are often prone to delinquency and dropping out of school later.
Neglected children are seldom neither liked or disliked by their peers. Although they are very shy, and may have low self-esteem, many neglected children do very well in school and are able to develop friends as they approach adolescence.
Bullies come most often from the rejected category, but they sometimes are popular children as well. Victims can be selected from any category, although neglected children often are more likely to be victims."

From this website;
link

I also want to add that another big reason why teens bully is because they were victims themselves. I can honestly say that being in a situation where you're the victim and perpetrator at the same time and everyone looks down at you in both areas is just plain hard and hurtful. Believe me, I've been there.

Well I agree somewhat, I think that each situation would be different and discretion has to be used....but I'm a bit against this namby pamby catering to everyone's feelings business. To me, the bottom line is that someone hurt someone else, so that person should be stopped and punished.

The bully should be punished definatley, but given help if needed.

i agree, i think all of you have valid points, to have support provided for both parties.

they should rot in prison, regardless of age.

Jillywinkles said: 'so that person should be stopped and punished. '

I agree the bully should be punished. But that often does not stop him/her. When you help that person too, the chances are much greater that it won't happen again and then you will have achieved what you want: less bullying.

I know this for a fact,punishing a bully does not help it however does the opposite and it escalates the matter because nobody likes to be punished,yes clearly what they did was wrong,many schools believe punishing someone by(detetion/suspensions in school or out of school)works but that is incorrect because it makes the person much more mad,because now they have a parent or parents who is disappointed or mad at them and now they have more pressure on them and they have no other way to take it out but on other kids.Instead of all that.I'd rather see a school help them,take them aside and talk to them,ask if there's anything bothering them at home,at school etc because USUALLY talking to someone about your problems helps and they might stop because they'll feel better. I think there's more bullies because of the way public schools approach it which is punish as detention/suspension, scoldings on why not to do it and calling their parents they should try helping the bully instead of creating more problems for him/her.I think the disciplinary system of the public school systems is the main reason why bullies stay bullies instead of helping them they're adding more problems and adding more reasons why they stay a bully

...Although there does come a point in life when you have to take responsibility for your own actions.
But when they're just kids? Definately.