Blessed Votio
2/16/2025
Article Review 1
Cybercrime laws in Jordan and Freedom of Expression
This article talks about the evolution of cybercrime laws in the country of Jordan and the impacts it has on the populations’ freedom of speech. It demonstrates the conflicts that occur between the fight against cybercrime and guarding fundamental human rights. All this is done by the use of qualitative research methods of social sciences to find solutions to these different problems.
Principles of Social Sciences
Just like relativism proposes that point of views are based on individuals’ ideology, cultures, etc, the article shows that the laws in Jordan are being put in place depending on the culture they have, political mindset, and also social situation. This can be seen in the way Jordan tries to find a balance between cybersecurity with democratic values that is in the area. The Electronic Crimes Act (ECA) 2023 is being studied without bias and with neutrality. Thereby exploring the consequences of their acts without impartiality which is a clear example of “objectivity”. The article makes use of a table that shows the rise in the number of crimes reported along with the year, population, and internet users on table 1 “Number of Cases of Cybercrime in Jordan”. This is an example of empiricism due to the fact that they made use of factual information to deduce a conclusion in regards to the rise of crime in Jordan. In this same study, they focus on using proofs to criticize the ECA 2023 rather than using people’s opinions or theirs. This demonstrates the notion of ethical neutrality by not taking sides, but it analyzes the situation based on facts and not personal opinions. The article demonstrates how advancements in technology as well as the political situation of the country has influenced the laws put in place concerning cybercrimes. This is an example of determinism which shows that events happen due to preceding ones (Maghaireh 15).
Hypotheses
Historically, Jordan has put in place legislative measures to fight against cybercrime; nevertheless, these measures have not been efficient enough to fight against cyber-attacks. Throughout the years, Jordan introduced cybercrime acts such as “Information systems Crimes Act No 30”, “Electronic Transaction Act No 85”, “Electronic Crimes Act 2015” and later on “the Electronic Crimes Act of 2023” which has been controversial due its hindrance to freedom of expression. This law impacts people’s ability in expressing their minds in digital areas which is ironic because it goes against the balance of preventing cyber-attacks while keeping good democratic values in Jordan. Now the question is “To what extent do the recent legislative changes, including the Electronic Crimes Act 2023 impact freedom of expression in the context of cybercrimes?” (Maghaireh 15).
Research Methods Used
Throughout the article, the study makes use of “document analysis” which explores written and legal materials such as ECA 2023, ECA 2025, amendments that were proposed, and even a table that showed the rise of cyber-attacks in Jordan. The study also compares different acts that were put in place in the past such as Crimes Act No 30 and many others with the ECA 2023. Here, it is clear that they made use of the research method of comparative legal analysis by trying to contrast the different acts (Maghaireh 15).
Types of Data and Analysis Done
In this study, they made use of different acts that were put in place by the government which is was directly analyzed from the original legislative text; this falls under the primary data. On the other hand, they made use of a table which shows the rise of cyber crimes reported in the country which is a good example of secondary data. The research study also makes use of thematic analysis which involves the recurrent theme at the times; for example, the conflict between fighting against cybercrime and freedom of expression (Maghaireh 15).
The topic relates to the marginalized groups by demonstrating how the ECA 2023 has made activists as well as journalists that might start experiencing surveillance due to restrictions on the freedom of expression in Jordan. Journalism is all about reporting and writing information so as to bring awareness to the population, but the ECA 2023 makes it difficult for journalists and activists to freely express themselves on certain matters (Maghaireh 15).
There are several contributions that we can draw out from this study. Firstly, it brings awareness on how freedom of expression is being affected by the cybercrime legislations put in place. This study also gives suggestions that could bring a balance between cybersecurity and basic human rights such as freedom of expression. It also urged policymakers to consider the impacts that these policies put in place might have on the society as well as on the marginalized groups (Maghaireh 15).
Conclusion
This article analyzes Jordan’s cybercrime legislation while pointing out the fact that it is vital to find a balance between cyber crimes laws enacted and the rights of the people. In 2023, the Electronic Crimes Act 2023 was put in place which caused controversies to arise because it brought restrictions to the freedom of expression. They made use of primary data such as the analyzing of the ECA 2023 and also secondary data such as the table which showed the rise of cybercrimes reported throughout the years. By employing quantitative research methods and different principles of social sciences such as empiricism and many others, it demonstrates the challenges that came about with the ECA 2023. To conclude, it is important to make sure that while trying to make the internet safer by implementing cybercrime laws, these laws or policies should bring a restriction on people’s rights (Maghaireh 15).
Works Cited
Maghaireh, Alaeldin Mansour. “Cybercrime Laws in Jordan and Freedom of Expression: A Critical Examination of the Electronic Crimes Act 2023.” International Journal of Cyber Criminology, vol. 18, no. 1, Jan.–June 2024, pp. 15–36. Diamond Open Access Journal, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. View of Cybercrime Laws in Jordan and Freedom of Expression: A Critical Examination of the Electronic Crimes Act 2023
Blessed Votio
3/29/2025
Article Review 2
Prevalence and Trends of Depression among Cyberbullied Adolescents – Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2011-2019
This article explores the prevalence and trends of depressions among adolescents who have faced cyberbullying during their lifetime. This study makes use of the data from the CDC’s National Youth Risk Behavior Survey from 2011-2019, and it was estimated that about 1.9 million children of the age between 3-17 were diagnosed with depression in the US. This demonstrates that depression is a serious mental issue when we look at the statistics provided and it has led to adolescents engaging in risky behaviors such as smoking, alcohol drinking, anxiety, the use of drugs, and taking part in risky sexual behaviors. Cyberbullying could be defined as the use of the internet to willfully intimidate others via harmful texts, aggressiveness, mockery, etc. In this paper, I will show how the article makes use of social sciences, research methods used, the types of data and analysis used, and how the article relates to the challenges, concerns and contributions of marginalized groups, and how its overall contributions to society.
Principles of Social Sciences
This article makes use of several principles of social science research such as objectivity, relativism, empiricism, parsimony, determinism, ethical neutrality, and even skepticism. Relativism holds that all things are related: this article demonstrates how depression and cyberbullying have different impacts on people by race, gender, and ethnicity, thereby showing that social and cultural contexts may shape this incident. Objectivity is a situation whereby a researcher’s personal opinions should not affect the research’s conclusions. Here, the research makes use of quantitative data collected from the CDC’s YRBS which ensures that the study is factual and objective. Parsimony argues that scientific research should be made easy to understand. This research provides an easy to understand concept by making use of cyberbullying as strain → depression from the study of Agnew’s General Strain Theory (GST). The arrow demonstrates a casual relationship which means that cyberbullying leads to depression and it is done without the use of unnecessary concepts. Next, empiricism tells us that social scientists can only study what is real to the senses. Following the research made by the nationally representative survey data, they provide empirical evidence instead of theoretical speculations. In addition, this article tells us that cyberbullying leads to depression. This is in accordance with determinism because behavior is caused by preceding events (Nicholson et al. 45).
Hypothesis
Besides the findings made by this study, it also addresses two principal research questions: “To what extent does depression prevalence differ by being cyberbullied, cyberbullied biological sex, and cyberbullied race/ethnicity?” And “Among cyber bullied individuals, to what extent did depression trends vary by biological sex and race/ethnicity?”
These questions come from the hypothesis that cyberbullying victimization is associated with higher depression rates, which varies by geographical factors (Nicholson et al. 45).
Research Methods
This study makes use of quantitative analysis of CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data from 2011-2019. It also uses logistic regression models to evaluate the trends in depression among cyberbullied adolescents and weighted sampling to guarantee national representativeness alongside complex survey designs with stratified. The article also demonstrates its Pairwise t-test and Cohen’s d to compare prevalence differences across groups. They also detect non-linear trends in depression rates over time with the use of joinpoint regression analysis (Nicholson et al. 45).
Types of Data and Analysis Done
This article makes use of data in the form of self-reported survey responses on cyberbullying, depression, sex, race or ethnicity, and grade level. On the other hand, it analyzes stuff using descriptive statistics which shows the prevalence rates by group, trend analysis which demonstrates the linear and quadratic changes over time, effect size calculations used to measure differences between groups, and stratified models. Below, I am going to be talking about how the topic relates to the challenges, concerns and contribution of marginalized groups and its overall contributions to society (Nicholson et al. 45).
This study demonstrates the discriminations that affect female, black, and hispanic adolescents, who go through higher risks of cyberbullying and depression. It demonstrates that females face a higher depression rate as compared to males when they are cyberbullied. This study also shows how there are racial or ethnic disparities particularly with hispanic adolescents who show a higher rate of depression, but the trends of black and white adolescents are also high and raise concerns. They suggest that the victims may need precise mental health interventions to address cyberbullyings’s psychological toll (Nicholson et al. 45).
There are numerous contributions to society which could be drawn from this study such as; the fact that cyberbullying increases the rate of depression and there is a need for schools and online platforms to implement safety policies etc (Nicholson et al. 45).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important for us to know that our actions on the internet play a very important role and might have a negative or positive impact on other users. Beyond the evidence that was shown by this study, it is also a way for us to be kind each time that we are on the internet. We should only write kind/loving messages to others and if possible, we should report any action that seems like cyberbullying; provocative messages, hate comments, etc. It is vital for us to educate our younger ones on the dangers of the internet and how they should react when they come along with cyberbullying, Cyberbullying is something that keeps persisting in our communities. Let us all join hands as one to fight against it by reporting, and doing much more.
Works Cited
Nicholson, J., Marcum, C., & Higgins, G. E. (2023). Prevalence and trends of depression among cyberbullied adolescents– Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2011 – 2019. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, 6(1), 45-58. Available at: Prevalence and Trends of Depression among Cyberbullied Adolescents – Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2011 – 2019