Process of Criminalization: The Case of Computer Crime Laws

• NCJ Number: 110133
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1988) Pages: 101-126
• Author(s): R C Hollinger; L Lanza-Kaduce
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 26 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: University of Florida
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences on March 19, 1986, in Orlando, Fla.

Annotation

Scholars are rarely afforded contemporary opportunities to study the formation of criminal law. This paper reviews State and Federal efforts to criminalize various forms of computer abuse.

Abstract

The analysis indicates that there was neither organized opposition to nor significant interest group involvement in computer crime enactments. Individual reformers included computer crime 'experts' and legislators rather than 'moral entrepreneurs.' The media were crucial to the criminalization, in that they provided both data on the incidence of computer crime and also helped to define society's response to the perceived problem. The paper concludes that the criminalization of computer abuse can be interpreted as a symbolic endeavor to educate and socialize a new generation of computer users by extending traditional definitions of property and privacy. (Publisher abstract)