As technology advances, the line between criminal punishment and cybercrime becomes increasingly blurred. As a result of technological advancements, traditional crime has evolved into a limitless and borderless creature. According to Payne and Hadzhidimova’s article “Cybersecurity and Criminal Justice: Exploring the Intersections,” “our understanding of the relationship between crime and technology has lagged behind technological advances that have impacted criminal behavior.” Cybercrime has grown to such proportions that a new field known as digital forensics has emerged to investigate “cyber, computer, electronic, or other types of cybercrime” (Payne & Hadzhidimova, 2019). To incorporate cybercrime into the criminal justice system, the criminal justice system had to rethink its classification and perception of crime. Government regulations did not define cybercrime or the consequences of its commission until relatively recently.

Florida was the first state in the United States to enact and implement a computer crime statute in 1978. Given the pervasiveness of technology in almost every aspect of our lives (banking, education, social, etc.), it’s only natural for criminal justice to develop a more sophisticated cybercrime curriculum for students, as well as tactics for addressing such a diverse range of crimes. Identity theft occurs when someone exploits another’s good name and (possibly) financial information for their own gain. Due to the Internet’s disassociation and anonymity, such a crime could be committed in the privacy and comfort of one’s own home. When malevolent entities are well-trained and leave scant to no evidence, investigators face a new set of challenges. These cybercrimes begin to infiltrate not only the criminal justice system, but also the financial and legal systems, necessitating the development of policy in those communities to address cybercrime when customers or even entire institutions become victims. Numerous people have died as a result of cybercrime, which is widely regarded as one of the gravest threats to financial institutions, governments, investors, businesses, and (most recently) educational institutions.