Tackling Youth Cybercrime Perpetration: Highlights from Interviews with Youth Cybercrime Experts & Convicted Cybercriminals

• In Event: Lightning Talk: Harnessing Education Strategies to Safeguard Youth from Cybercrime & Online Victimization in New & Emerging Technologies

Abstract

Many young people today are never truly offline. The growth of social networking sites, chatrooms and online presence has provided a platform that challenges all elements of contemporary privacy and surveillance and offers an unprecedented, easily accessible arena for many forms of communication with seemingly unlimited people. There is a stark digital divide when it comes to youth and professionals such as teachers and law enforcement, and many young people and practitioners globally do not know what is illegal online. This talk will draw on findings from CC-DRIVER interviews with multidisciplinary youth cybercrime experts and convicted cybercriminals, whereby it was highlighted that there is a viral need to support young people who have a curiosity for technology and cyberspace into developing their skills legally, using education and like-minded tech-skilled mentors. A comprehensive set of practices is currently unaccounted for and is required for key stakeholders to be well-equipped to detect, deter and divert young people from committing dangerous activities online. As offences transcend international borders, there is an increasing demand to clarify legal frameworks, rules and regulations, and to teach young people what these are. Modernized and standardized laws on an international scale were recommended in this study, as a route to clarify the response these key actors can implement in the shifting technological landscape.

Authors

• Julia Davidson, University of East London

• Ruby Rosemarie Farr, University of East London