Thursday, October 3, 2013

Assignment #2: Teens Arrested for Cyberstalking after Threatening Violence Against Juvenile on Twitter (Brian Chan)

In this virtual crime, two female teenagers have been arresting for cyber bullying another girl. Specifically, these two teens were threatening to assault and/or possibly kill their classmate. Originally these three teenagers were friends but had a falling out, when the boyfriend of one of the perpetrators expressed interest in the victim. Threats continued against the girl even when she moved away to another district. Things took a turn for the worse when they started to target the victim’s younger sister.

Link: http://www.ketknbc.com/news/crimewatch/teens-arrested-for-cyberstalking-after-threatening

I believe this particular online crime was motivated by “disinhibition on the internet” mainly Dissociative Anonymity. The defendants felt like they had a cloak of anonymity to do whatever they wanted. They didn’t feel like their online crimes would ever have real word consequences such as a misdemeanor and/or felony and jail time. Suler calls this type of disinhibition “toxic disinhibition”. Without real world interactions, these teens felt free to do whatever they wanted. In this case, it was to explore their darker personalities and say things they wouldn’t have done so to the victim face-to-face. 

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