KIMISHUA ANGELA BAPRM 42583

WHAT MAKES CYBER CRIME LAW HARD TO ENFORCE

 When the Internet first "went commercial" and became affordable enough and easy enough to access for ordinary people (that is, those outside academia and government), it was a new frontier. Like the Wild West of old, it was mostly unregulated; legislators hadn't anticipated the rapid growth or the types of online behaviors that would require new laws to protect innocent users.

Over more than two decades since, state and federal governments have passed many statutes to address the problem of criminal activities that take place over the Internet. Cyber bullying, cyber stalking, theft of wireless services, spamming, and unauthorized access - most of these laws didn't exist twenty-five years ago.

So now we have plenty of laws on the books, but enforcing them is another matter. It can be frustrating for the victims of such crimes, when the perpetrators are never brought to justice. Some local police departments have set up divisions specifically devoted to computer crimes enforcement, but some shy away from investigating and enforcing these types of crime. That's because, for a number of reasons, enforcing laws governing online behavior is intrinsically more difficult than the enforcement of "traditional" laws. In this article, we'll take a look at those reasons.

 Grade of offense.

In the criminal justice system, different courts have jurisdiction over different grades of offense, based on severity. Municipal courts may handle only city ordinance violations and/or certain misdemeanor offenses

Jurisdictional issues

The concept of jurisdiction pertains to which agency or court has the authority to administer justice in a particular matter, and to the scope of those agencies' and courts' authority. Jurisdiction can be based on a number of different things:

Branch of law.

 In the U.S., there are three broad branches of law: criminal law, civil law, and regulatory law. The criminal (or penal) system deals with offenses that are prosecuted by the government - local, state or federal - and can be punished by monetary fines, loss of liberty (jail or prison), or in extreme cases, even loss of life (death penalty).

Monetary damages. In the civil system, different courts handle cases based on the monetary damages. For example, small claims courts or justice of the peace courts may have jurisdiction over lawsuits up to a few thousand dollars.

Geographic area.

 Any good real estate agent will tell you it's all about location, location, location - and that's what geographic jurisdiction pertains to. In the case of the courts, it's also referred to as venue. A law enforcement agency or court has jurisdiction only over crimes that take place in the geographic location where that agency or court has authority. That may include the location of the perpetrator, the location of the victim, or the location where the crime actually occurred.