Cyber Criminology and the Quest for Social Order in Nigerian Cyberspace

Abstract

Digital and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies have altered traditional forms of social relationships across modern societies and have raised critical concerns about social order in the cyberspace. The amorphous and borderless nature of virtual communities have allowed various deviants, criminals and terrorists elements to permeate them. The resultant criminogenic atmosphere has created a new research agenda for the discipline of criminology. This paper examines the emergence of cyber criminology as a twenty-first century field of criminology and argues that its growth is a fall-out of concerns about the increasing rate of crime and disorder in the cyberspace. Cyber criminology seeks to offer explanation to the causation of deviance, crime and terrorism in the cyberspace. The paper which is anchored on Jaishankar’s Space Transition Theory and Cohen and Felson’s Routine Activity Theory highlights the challenges, prospects and future direction of the evolving field of cyber criminology and its relevance to the quest for order in the Nigerian cyberspace.

Social Networking Sites and Deviant Behaviors among Youth in Damaturu

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The Nigerian Legal System through the Lens of H.L.A Hart

“…578 Many perceive the bills as an attempt by parliamentarians to gag critics and limit the freedom of expression of citizens, a fundamental human right contained in both the constitution and several international treaties to which Nigeria is party. 579 This behaviour obviously demonstrate that the lawmakers do not actually take the internal point of view towards the ultimate rules. 574 [1981] 2 NCLR 625 This disregard for the rules of recognition in Nigeria is not exclusive to the federal legislators, the congressmen at the level of the states have also exhibited same attitudes towards the rules of recognition.…”