Neo-Criminology

The advent and development of computer technology has given rise to a new concept of criminological approach which is called as neo-criminology. The emergence of a new variety of crime known as cyber crime which are radically different from conventional crimes have shown that these crimes cannot be adequately handled by the conventional criminological approach because of their peculiar nature.

It is well known that the development of computer technology has proved a boon to the human society but at the same time it also has its ill-effect which can be seen in the form of cyber crime. These crimes by their nature are easy to commit, difficult to detect and even harder to prove.

It is for this reason that these crimes have been characterised as low risk and high rewarding ventures for the cyber criminals, who with basic knowledge of computers, can perpetrate the crime from a distant place without the need for use of any violence or any visible criminal activity. Since cyberspace knows no territorial boundaries, it has become easier for the cyber criminals to remain out of reach of the law enforcement agencies.

The emergence of this new species of crime, i.e., cyber crime in the field of criminology has provided ever-increasing opportunities for the cyber criminals to indulge in illegal criminal activities unabated. The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed several sophisticated ways through which the perpetrators of these crimes found it easy to penetrate into the systems of software and internet to commit crime.

These crimes have global ramifications causing huge damage to national economy and business ventures are not restricted to any specific geographical area or territory, but they may be committed within a fraction of a second affecting innocent victim who may not even know that they have fallen a prey to cyber criminality.

The peculiar nature of these neo-crimes is that it is only the perpetrator who knows that what he is doing is a crime but the victim remain completely unaware or ignorant that they are affected by the criminal act of the perpetrator. It is therefore, obvious that these crimes have thrown a challenge before the law enforcement agencies and they are required to evolve a neo-criminological approach to handle these crimes.