NCJ Number
225062
Editor(s)
Stephane Leman-Langlois
Date Published
2008
Length
284 pages
Annotation
This collection of articles provides a critical examination of how recent technological innovations have changed both the mechanisms of crime commission and the mechanisms of crime prevention and control, and takes a broad approach and understanding of the scope of technology’s impact on crime and crime control.
Abstract
This book is concerned with the concept of ‘technocrime’. The term encompasses crimes committed on or with computers. It goes beyond the standard definition of cybercrime to convey the idea that technology enables an entirely new way of committing, combating, and thinking about criminality, criminals, police, courts, victims and citizens. The book uncovers mechanisms by which behaviors become crimes or cease to be called crimes. It identifies a number of corporate, government, and individual actors who are instrumental in this construction. It looks at the beneficiaries of increased surveillance, control, and protection as well as the targets of it. Ten chapters in the book cover specific technologies, such as the use of closed circuit television (CCTV), computers, hackers and security experts, and photo radar. However, the larger objective is to provide a comparative perspective and some broader theoretical foundations for thinking about crime and technology than previously existed. The book provides a better understanding of the relationship between crime and technology, drawing upon many disciplines, not only criminology. It attempts to explore new avenues and to reexamine a number of trends in the literature about crime and technology. Figures, tables, notes, references, and index