NCJ Number
218521
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 46 Issue: 4-5 Dated: 2006 Pages: 257-273
Date Published
2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article considers whether technological advances have facilitated the commission of physical crime or whether they have led to the emergence of a new wave of traditional, but virtual, organized crime.
Abstract
The main argument is that traditional organized crime groups still prefer to operate in the physical rather than the virtual world. It does remain unclear, however, whether there are traditional organized crime groups currently operating within the cyberspace environment, but it does seem clear that such cyberspace criminal activity by these groups is likely in the future. The term “cybercrime” has quickly become the generic descriptor for any deviant online behavior, yet the term lacks the specificity of a definition. Beyond the problem of definitional specificity lies the lack of understanding about whether “organized” cybercrime is crime committed by traditional organized crime groups or whether it is crime committed online in an organized manner. In practice, cybercrime has seemingly become to be known as organized once the perpetrator ceases to be a lone individual and gravitates to a group of like-minded criminals. The author points out, however, that using this definition could cause any form of criminal activity that involves any degree of planning to be considered de facto organized crime. The tensions between the law enforcement perspective of cybercrime, which is described as apathetic, and the research literature on cybercrime, are discussed followed by an examination of the generic relationship between technology and crime. The vulnerabilities of the Internet and its related technologies, such as personal digital assistants, are exposed along with the use of cyberspace by traditional organized groups, which generally involve the recruitment, support, and training of members. Footnotes