Essay Sample on Definition of Computer Crime and Cybercrime

Cyber and computer crimes are quickly heightening subgroup of offender offenses. The criminal acts are always carried out in large volumes and span the world, causing increased challenges in capturing the perpetrators (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). Computer crime are the acts that are executed through using the computer. On the other hand, cybercrime entails the use of the internet and computer. Cybercrimes is strictly online. On the other hand, computer crimes are offenses that affect the processing unit despite its involvement with the grid. However, the difference between the two is very little. An excellent example of cybercrime is phishing which is the steaking of a user’s login credentials and performing malicious acts. Phishing only needs an internet connection and a browser. The other examples of cybercrime are child pornography, cyber extortion, copyright infringement, and piracy. When it comes to computer crime, it infects a target through the use of the internet when accessing another person’s computer without their consent. An excellent example of computer crime is the introduction of a virus to the system of the computer (Hill & Marion, 2016). This happens when a phone, flash disk, or any device is inserted to the computer to transfer information, and if the device has the virus it transfers as well. Other examples are hacking and telecommunication crimes.

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Relationship Between the Criminal Justice Systems with Cybercrime

In the current digital world, cybercrime is a growing threat to not only people but organizations as well. Due to this, the United States government involved the criminal justice system to help in the curbing of the cybercrime. The criminal justice scheme is a board that ensures justice to the individuals that commit crimes. In this case, we are looking at the cybercrimes and not physical assaults. The criminal justice scheme entails three parts, that is, police, law enforcement firms, and the court. The main purpose of the criminal justice scheme is to deliver to the public an effective, fair, and efficient justice (Brown, 2015). The first way the criminal justice scheme has tried to help is by conducting investigations where they obtain digital evidence in the area where the cybercrime has occurred. The people that are taken as first responders in case of cybercrime are an expert on digital forensics, an expert in information technology, or a worker in the workplace. This shows that the public as well as private organizations do cybercrime investigations.

After the investigations are done, criminal justice agencies take from there and figure out ways to prevent cybercrime. The criminal justice agents are judges and prosecutors. For instance, in the United States of America, more than one agency investigates cybercrime. The process is only achievable when the agents have the appropriate skills, knowledge, and abilities to carry out the task at hand (Neubauer & Fradella, 2018). After the cybercriminals have been arrested, they acquire enough evidence that they present to the court. However, the acquiring of the evidence is a challenge that makes a ruling as well as the implementation of laws almost impossible. Another important criminal justice scheme has put in place is to provide cybersecurity to the computers. Examples of this cybersecurity are cloud, application, critical infrastructure, and network security. Also, the Internet of Things security is another type of cybersecurity.

The Challenges the Court is Facing When Handling Cybercrime

The case is looking at is child pornography. It has always been a challenge in most countries due to the development of technology. The reason why it is difficult to handle is that in some countries the age to start viewing pornographic content is less than eighteen years. It causes a dilemma to the court and law enforcement officers because in one nation it is legal for the website to distribute pornographic images but illegal to individuals from other nations to download. The officers tend to arrest the individuals but it will not stop the website from releasing more pornographic content. The current laws ensure privacy by prohibiting the exposure of a person’s information (Hill & Marion, 2016). The court on the other hand also faces some challenges when enforcing policies and laws on cybercrime. The first is they find it difficult to identify cybercriminals. In this case, they find it challenging to recognize the people viewing the pornographic content as well as their location. Also, the internet is free and a lot of individuals hide their information when they are using telecommunications gadgets.

The other challenge is the extradition process. The process says that when an individual commits a cybercrime in their nation and tends to escape to another, he or she should be taken back to their country to face trial. It is a challenge because, in some nations where the criminals are located for various purposes, they decline the plea to extradite cybercriminals. The final challenge is the nature of evidence (Brown, 2015). It is a challenge because the evidence depends on science and does not entail any physical evidence. The investigators, in this case, tend to depend on the footprints and traces on the internet that were left behind by the cyber criminals when they were using the computers. They have a less evidential value which makes it impossible to convince the court.

References

Brown, C. S. (2015). Investigating and prosecuting cybercrime: Forensic dependencies and barriers to justice. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 9(1), 55. https://connections-qj.org/article/investigating-and-prosecuting-cyber-crime-forensic-dependancies-and-barrier-justice

Hill, J. B., & Marion, N. E. (2016). Introduction to Cybercrime: Computer Crimes, Laws, and Policing in the 21st Century: Computer Crimes, Laws, and Policing in the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO. https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/imtroduction_to_Cybercrime_Computer_Crim.html?id=TBJ1CwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y

Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2018). America's courts and the criminal justice system. Cengage Learning. https://www.cengage.com/c/america-s-courts-and-the-criminal-justice-system-13e-neubaer/9781337557894/