New and Old Emergent Criminal Threats - Essay Example

Old and Emergent Criminal Threats Assignment The growth of information and communication technologies has exposed the world to new criminal threats. Cybercrime is a modern criminal threat, and this has gained prominence with the growth of the internet. Basically, cybercrime involves all illegal activities carried out through computers and the internet. These are the tools used by criminals to undertake their criminal activities. Cybercrime in itself is broad and involves a variety of offenses.

Offences may include those against the confidentiality of systems and data and the integrity of such data and systems, distribution of pornographic materials and the use of internet to promote hate speech among other crimes. For example, many cases are reported throughout the world where criminals have used the internet to illegally obtain bank and credit details of customers and used such information to withdraw cash from their accounts. There are also many cases of the internet being used by individuals to attack and harass others, commonly referred to as cyber bullying.

There are many theories that have been used to define and understand criminality and criminal behavior. One of such theories is the social process theory. According to this theory, people become criminals as a result of their interactions with other individuals, organizations and the various processes that exist in their society. Therefore, one learns to be a criminal based on what he/she sees and interacts with in the society. The events and processes that exist in the environment go a long way in influencing one’s behavior.

This theory has two other approaches. The first is the social control theory which basically argues that a person’s behavior is influenced by his interactions with institutions and other people. Secondly, there is the social reaction theory which emphases that if an individual is seen or labeled as a criminal early on in life, he is likely to become a criminal later on in life. In order to evaluate if the cybercrime applies to the social process theory, the causal research design can be applied.

In this type of research design, researchers attempt to show evidence of a cause and effect relationship. In this case, the researcher tests how a particular variable results in a particular behavior. In this case, researchers could attempt to show how some of the existing institutions and process determine cyber criminal behavior. For example, a researcher could attempt to relate how one’s interactions with fellow college students in a university make the individual a cyber criminal. Another example could be internet.

The use of the internet is one of the processes that have dominated the modern world. A researcher could therefore attempt to show how one’s continued use of the internet shapes him towards becoming a cyber criminal. In this research design, the researcher will hold the variable that is assumed to contribute to cyber criminality constant and examine the changes in other variables. As a real example, a researcher could carry out a study based on a group of students from different universities.

One group could be exposed to the internet and computer technologies for a certain period of time. The other group would not be exposed to such technologies. At the end of the study period, the researcher could attempt to measure cyber criminal behavior in both groups and understand how the interaction with such technologies contributes to criminal behavior.