As one of the school "weirdos" who prefered reading to sports, and who blew the grading curve for the less scholastically able students, I got to see a lot of the bullies' behavior up close and personal.
And contrary to a lot of people's dismissive attitudes of "aw isn't that cute" or "boys will be boys", I know for a fact that most of the chronic bullies weren't just kids horsing around, they were young sadistic sociopaths on their way towards bigger and better crimes when they got older.
I've often wondered what percentage of crime could be prevented if society would take it more seriously and bring the disciplinary hammer down hard on young bullies, before years of looking the other way or "letting the kids work it out between themselves" (i.e. letting the bullies get away with it while the other kids learn how to most safely capitulate) sets the flawed personalities in stone.