Strict new anti-bullying laws in New Jersey and elsewhere are turning school children into criminals for doing things that kids have always done such as calling each other names.

Robby Soave of the Daily Caller reports.

Under strict bullying law, kid who called classmate ‘horse’ and ‘fat ass’ goes to court

After enacting the strictest anti-bullying law in the country, the state of New Jersey must now hold trials for kids who call each other names on the playground.

An eighth-grader in the village of Ridgewood who allegedly called a girl “horse,” “fat,” and “fat ass” is just one of a dozen cases that suggest the 2011 law went too far in criminalizing bullying, according to The Star-Ledger.

The boy denied calling his classmate any name other than “horse.”

“I never made any remarks other than horse,” he said in his testimony. “I did not have any intent.”

The boy’s family insisted on having the case brought to trial. In effect, they are appealing the decision to add a bullying charge to his permanent record, which they worry could harm his college chances later in life.

“I don’t feel what my son said to this young woman constitutes violation of the harassment, intimidation and bullying law,” said the boy’s father. “It’s possible that this could track my son through college graduation.”

At least 15 other families have gone to trial to dispute charges leveled under the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights. Many other students are in the process of initiating appeals.