Bully stories abound these days; here’s a heartbreaking one written by Dan Barry for the NYT.

It’s about a high school kid named Billy who is the target of bullying among his high school peers. Not just a target; Barry suggests that he’s the target, at least where physical assault is concerned. He’s assaulted regularly. There was even a Facebook group devoted to hating him for a while, until Billy’s parents alerted school officials and the group’s page was taken down.

Barry, in addition to laundry-listing the many ways in which Billy has been victimized over the last few years, suggests a couple of questions: Why him? And how can the bullies be punished in a way that prevents this from continuing to happen?

Why Billy? Who knows. Really. He was probably the wrong kid at the wrong place at the wrong time. Why is his experience so extreme? (And it is extreme—I’ve never heard of bullying like this, and I ask kids about this stuff for a living.) Something tells me that Billy just doesn’t break. When he gets hit, he probably just shakes it off, gives the little jerk who hit him a level stare, and walks away. The author never mentions retaliation, he never says that Billy cries. Or goes to the principal. Or does anything other than walk away. Billy’s steeliness must infuriate some kids.

Billy seems to have become the school punching bag. If you need to blow off steam, find Billy. If you want to do a little chest-beating to show everyone who’s boss, find Billy. You can hit Billy all you want—nobody’s going to intervene, the punishment is never worse than a few days’ suspension, and girls will still like you. (In fact, girls may like you more. Research by Anthony Pellegrini and his colleagues have shown that teen boys who engage in displays of physical dominance—including bullying and other instances of aggression—are seen as highly desirable dating partners. Our infatuation with The Bad Boy apparently starts pretty early.)

Sigh.

So is there any hope for Billy and kids like him? I think so. And while I agree with Billy’s parents that his bullying peers should be punished, even charged with assault, I don’t think that’s the whole answer. When it comes to adolescents, the peer group is a much more powerful agent of change than angry parents or teachers or even the legal system. It’s up to Billy’s peers to put a stop to the punches.

Research by Wendy Craig and Debra Pepler has shown that when peers intervene in episodes of bullying, about half of the time the bully will stop his (or her) mean behavior within 10 seconds. That’s pretty powerful. But the problem, I think, is that kids don’t realize their own power. They think they have to be “cool” or popular or physically dominant themselves in order to stand up to the bullies on behalf of a peer. And sure, sometimes the bully’s going to look at them like they’re crazy and growl “Get lost” when they do stand up for someone. But if Craig and Pepler’s research tells us anything, it’s that peers are the best chance a guy like Billy has. We need to remind kids of this as often as we can.