Criminal justice as a field is more than just police officers and law enforcement. Many people in the field of criminal justice devote their lives to understanding the reasons for criminal behavior. Why criminals engage in their behavior, what led them down this path, and the social issues that could promote their way of life. The field of criminal justice is known mostly for violent crimes, but now more than every there is an increased focus on cybercrime.

Cybercrime contributes to a large percentage of crimes committed in day-to-day life, and the effects can be devastating, even if the crime is nonviolent. It also doesn’t just refer to hacking but could refer to any sort of crime committed via the internet or cyberspace. Criminologists often times try and understand the reasons for criminal behaviors, and ways to prevent it. If criminologists could figure out what exactly causes hackers to, well, hack, then it would definitely help society as a whole due to how many devices are hacked daily. Of course, you would never be able to completely stop crime, and the same goes for hacking, but putting programs in place to prevent hacking would help everyone involved.

Unsurprisingly the main motivator for many criminals is money, either due to growing up in poverty or just wanting more money to their name. The same goes for hackers, as the vast majority of cyber-attacks are done for financial gain. And hackers don’t just walk away with a few hundred dollars but can walk away with millions depending on their luck. If criminologists could successfully pin down the root causes for poverty and criminal behavior and successfully implement programs to reform criminals and help poor families financially then it is possible that it could help cut down on cyber-crime as well. This is all speculation though, and many hackers live overseas, where policy changes would not help them financially.