Collaborative Justice and Harm Reduction in Cyberspace: Policing Indecent Child Images

Wilson, Tim (2020) Collaborative Justice and Harm Reduction in Cyberspace: Policing Indecent Child Images. The Journal of Criminal Law, 84 (5). pp. 474-496. ISSN 0022-0183

[img]
Preview
Text
0022018320952560.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (407kB) | Preview
[img]
Preview
Text (Advance online version)
0022018320952560.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (407kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018320952560

Abstract

The exponential increase on the internet of indecent images of children (IIOC) has been followed by a transformation within criminal justice. The scale, nature and rapid technological evolution of such crimes—often of distant initial geographical origin—requires collaborative justice and harm reduction arrangements with internet companies and NGOs. The diminished reach (declining criminal justice interventions) and power (even in identifying crimes for intervention) of state authority with the current collaborative model, however, has resulted in inadequate social regulation and policing in response to IIOC crimes on the surface web. There is a considerable risk that the Online Harms White Paper proposals to establish overarching government authority to generally reduce harmful conduct will not fully resolve problems that go much wider than the technological, commercial and consumer protection on the surface web issues emphasised in that document. Only political choices about funding and fundamental rights compliant legislation can (a) prevent the hollowing out of criminal justice capacity and capabilities to deal with IIOC offenders and (b) ensure an essential compatibility and consistency in police operational ability—including the access sought to anonymised communication data via an encryption key—and legal principles when dealing with IIOC crimes across all levels of the internet, including ‘the dark web’. These issues are examined as a case study in civic epistemology about the influence of neoliberalism in technologically focused policy making.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Cybercrime policing, indecent images of children (IIOC), encryption key, neoliberalism, civic epistemology
Subjects: M200 Law by Topic
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Northumbria Law School
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 02 Oct 2020 12:05
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 14:06
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/44386

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics