Digital displacement of youth offending: addressing the issue

This study aims to explore pathways from harmful to illegal online activity perpetrated by young people, legislation and police perspectives, current detection methods and interventions. This perspective paper examines issues observed within a larger systematic literature review on digital youth offending. A trajectory from acceptable to harmful and subsequently illegal behaviour was identified, with a particular pathway from unethical video game activity to digitally dependent offending. Legislation and police perspectives vary by jurisdiction, with a common theme that increased officer education is key to the level of preparedness to investigate cases. Machine learning and automatic prevention show promise as detection and disruption processes, with education recommended for young people as a deterrent and redirection of skills to positive outcomes. Recommendations for further research include a broad survey of school students to include all identified areas of digital offending, which could drive the development of targeted education by law enforcement and partner agencies for young people. The shift in youth offending requires the justice and educational systems to adjust how they respond to youth crime. Policy and practise shifts can include further exploration of investigative hacking, education for law enforcement and educational prevention and redirection programmes aimed at youth. The digital displacement of youth offending is a progressively...
Source: Journal of Forensic Practice - Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Source Type: research