Pt.3 Cybercrime.
While the golden rule is supposed to be something along the lines of ‘don’t always believe what you see on television’, I believe in some cases fictional crime shows can expose a very real problems in today’s society. While we cannot award cause and effect to crime or the media, anyone can see there is a clear correlation between the two. Within the past two decades we’ve seen a massive rise is cybercrime as the internet has soared to prolific status as a form of communication. Not only the news media, but also fictional media, such as film and television programs, are a reflection of this escalation in cybercrime. Of particular prominence in the media is the subject of cyberbulling. The fourfold categorisation of computer related crime (Wall, 1999) classes this as cyber violence, or cyber stalking, “the continued harassment of a victim via the internet and through emails” (Marsh & Melville, 2009)
In the TV crime drama, Law & Order, the ‘Babes’ episode (s10e6) tells of a murder that leads Detective Stabler and Benson to a group of high school girls who have a made a pregnancy pact, alongside their boyfriends who have made a chastity circle. Witnessed is an inter-tangled web of lies, abuse, and online threats, which ultimately lead to the suicide of a number of the girls.
This program managed to illustrate, though in a sensationalised manner, a storyline not so fictional.
In one of the first cyber bullying cases to come before a Victorian court, young Gerada was convicted of one count of stalking but avoided a jail term. Gerada had sent his former friend 5 threatening text messages just hours before he jumped to his death from Melbourne's West Gate Bridge on February 5, 2009 (SMH, 2010, April 8) (Full story here)
The main problem is cyberbulling has no limit. As Jessica Maher (2010, May 31) explains, "At least if you are being bullied at your school you can go home and get away from it, but with cyber bullying you are getting things on your phone, your computer, often offensive photos - it's never ending." It has been found that bullying can have a long last effect on health and well-being, as well as performance in school (Patty, 2009).
Cyber bullying poses as difficult problem to control and eradicate. Currently there are no specific laws to tackle bullying in school, however serious cases may come under such as criminal offences as stalking or intimidation. However is dealing with these kids as criminals really going to make the problem better?
References
Mahar, J. (2010, May 31). Time to tackle cyber bullies. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from, http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/time-to-tackle-cyber-bullies-20100530-wnj3.html
Marsh, I. & Melville, G. (2009). Crime Justice and the Media. Routledge: New York.
Patty, A. (2009). Inquiry finds rise in cyber bullying. Retrieved October 2, 2010, from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/inquiry-finds-rise-in-cyber-bullying-20091112-icg4.html
SMH (2010, April 8). Magistrate slams cyber bully. Retrieved October 1, 2010, from, http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/magistrate-slams-cyber-bullies-20100408-ru23.html
Wall, D. S. (1999). Cybercrimes: New Wine, no Bottle?, in Davies, P., Francis, P., & Jupp, V. (eds), Invisible Crimes: Their Victims and their Regulation of Cyberspace. Criminal Law Review, December, 79-91.
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