Etiology, Motives, and Crime Hubs

Etiology, Motives, and Crime Hubs

Debarati Halder, K. Jaishankar
Copyright: © 2012 |Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61350-323-2.ch706
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Abstract

This chapter describes on the various aspects that surround victimization of women in the cyberspace and goes in depth to analyze the reasons for such victimization. The etiology of cyber crimes against women is something novel as this has overridden the conventional causes of criminality. The motivation behind the cyber crimes against women is also analyzed. Spatial aspect of physical space crime is a well-researched subject and in this chapter the ‘crime hubs’ or the hotspots of cyber crimes are dealt. Apart from this an attempt is made to develop characteristics of victims and perpetrators of cyber crimes against women.
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3.2. Etiology

We have observed that majority of studies on gender violence indicate the gender of the victim, the myth of fragile reputation of women, social practices of male dominance over the women, and victim precipitation as some of the main causes for victimization of women (Melton, 2000; Fisher, Cullen & Turner, 2002; Mustain & Tewsbury, 1999; Biber et.al, 2002; Bryant, 2009; Milivojevic & Copic, 2010; Condry, 2010; Machado, Dias & Coelho, 2010). In this chapter we will examine few more grounds, other than the traditionally established reasons like the gender of the victim, which could be the main cause for crimes such as stalking and sexual harassment as the raison d'être for the growth of cyber crime against women. These are as follows:

3.2.a The Hi-Tech Help

The hi-tech help had remained the largest reason for the growth of crime in the cyber space, including cyber crimes against women. Along with misusing the technology for harassing women, crooks use it for hiding behind the cyber veil. They play like Meghnaada1 by attacking their victims shielding themselves behind the cloud of pseudonymity in the cyber space in different ‘avatars’.2 This is explained well by Citron (2009a). She speaks about mob attacks as well as individual attacks on women internet users from behind the cloak of anonymity and she further shows how misuse of technology wins in a battle with ‘rights’ (Citron, 2009a). Jaishankar’s (2008) criminological theory on the behavior of the perpetrators in the cyber space3 can be used aptly for explaining how ‘hi-tech helps’ fuel the growth of cyber crime against women.

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