What Is to be Done about Computer Crime?
Kevin F. Steinmetz · 2023
Drawing from relevant literature and my own experiences in the area, this chapter explores two relevant types of crime—computer hacking and online fraud—while highlighting potential policies and initiatives or possible points of intervention. Computer hacking is used as a case study to consider how interventions can be crafted to reduce or mitigate perpetration while fraud is used to consider how realist criminologists might craft solutions designed to ameliorate the suffering of victims. Overall, the objective is to show how scholars can examine computer crime problems in a manner attuned to the reality of perpetration and victimization and avoid overly simplistic and near-sighted solutions. In addition, considered will be interventions rooted in social policy, public awareness campaigns, and other non-technological or non-punitive means to prevent harm. This chapter can thus be considered a guide to how to “think like a realist criminologist.”