Criminal justice and cybercrime have the potential to work hand in hand. According to the journal presented in the week twelve module, criminologists can help do a number of things in the world of cybercrime. Criminologists can assist in putting a definition on cybercrime, help produce research/ create an understanding of cyber law, put a measurement on victimization, help improve digital forensics, and more (Payne, Hadzihidmova 2018). If cybercrime is reliant on criminal justice to make a more defining and well-known topic of study, then they are overlapping. Perhaps, criminologists getting involved would help improve the field and make the scariness of cybercrime come to light. A lot of people are unaware of the seriousness of cybercrime. Cybercrime has the potential to shut down power grids, damage industrial companies, and wipe out businesses. Criminal justice studies can potentially help solve cybercrime problems. That is known as Interdisciplinary thinking. This involves looking at various disciplines to help solve complex problems and create deeper understandings.
I have learned a lot about interdisciplinary studies/ thinking not only from the cybersecurity-technol-society course but also from my interdisciplinary studies course. Criminal Justice is not the only discipline to play a role in cybercrime/cybersecurity or the only discipline to overlap. Computer Science is also a discipline that helps define or identify cybercrime. Cybercrime happens on computers. In order to understand cybercrime, you have to understand computers. The person committing the cybercrime is doing so on a computer. Knowing the functions and capabilities of computers will help people understand how hackers do the things they do. Across all of my cybersecurity courses, there is always some type of preface about certain computer functions and tools. There’s a reason that important computer science courses like coding and programming are also required under the cybersecurity course load. They overlap and do so in a way that is beneficial and helpful.
Payne, Brian K. and Hadzhidimova, Lora, “Cyber Security and Criminal Justice Programs in the United States: Exploring the Intersections” (2018). Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications. 39. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/sociology_criminaljustice_fac_pubs/39