NCJ Number
218883
Date Published
2007
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines a new crime control strategy for the new high-tech crime, cybercrime and examines why current crime control strategies cannot effectively deal with cybercrime.
Abstract
The current crime-control strategy is not effective against cybercrime and there are two options: first, modify the current, reactive strategy so it becomes an effective way to deal with cybercrime; second, develop a new, non-reactive strategy for cybercrime. In improving the reactive strategy, four alternatives are proposed: (1) the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime; (2) law enforcement strike-back techniques; (3) civilian strike-back techniques; and (4) more officers. The reactive strategy incorporates prevention in so far as it seeks to incapacitate and deter offenders, but this is not its primary concern. A non-reactive strategy would be a variation of community policing. Unlike community policing, which relies primarily on an active police presence and secondarily on citizen efforts, this model relies primarily on active citizen efforts and only secondarily on police support of those efforts. It is a distributed policing strategy, not a community policing strategy. Questions are asked, such as why should we as civilians assume responsibility for preventing cybercrime and how can this be achieved. The goal is to encourage self-policing and voluntary compliance. Cybercrime is the use of computer technology to engage in unlawful activity. Specific cyber-offenses include: hacking, cracking, and virus dissemination. In the 21st century, citizens assume no responsibility for maintaining order. Maintaining order as been the sole province of professionalized, quasi-military police forces that ensure order by reacting to completed crimes. This model has been and continues to be effective in controlling the types of crime societies have dealt with over the past several millennia. It is not, however, effective against cybercrime. References