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Cyber Crime Research Project
Aspen D. Dressler
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
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Part 1: About Cybercrime
Cybercrime is any crime with a computer and network where the computer may or may
not be used as a tool to commit the crime (Moore, 2015, p. 4). The potential impacts of
cybercrime include, but are not limited to, damage (e.g. monetary, physical, reputational, etc.)
and the shut down of services (e.g. a power grid shut down). Criminals commit cybercrimes for
many different reasons. According to Jahankhani (2018), pleasure, control, and thrill may be
some of the motives for cybercriminals (Jahankhani, 2018, p. 25). Additionally, “cybercrime is
one of the fastest growing areas of crime” (Chawki et al., 2015, p.7). Chawki et al. (2015)
suggest this is due to the criminal being able to remain anonymous, the speed at which the crime
can be committed, as well as the convenience (Chawki et al., 2015, p.7). With cybercrime
growing rapidly, as technology advances, many people will continue to be impacted by this type
of crime in the future.
Part 2: Cybercrime Case of The Cannibal Cop
One of the most controversial and interesting cybercrime cases I’ve come across is the
case of Gilberto Valle, otherwise known as The Cannibal Cop. Valle was a police officer in New
York City before being charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping (Ek, 2015, p.902). Valle
was arrested because his chats on Dark Fetish Net (a website for the use of social networking to
talk about unusual fantasies) discussed kidnapping, raping, murdering, and eating women in
great detail including the names of the women (several being friends and one being his wife)(Ek,
2015, p.902). Most of the focus on the case dealt with the horrific content found on Valle’s
computer such as emails, chats, photographs, and videos (Ek, 2015, p.903). With evidence that
Valle used the police database to look up information on his targets along with the online chats,
he was found guilty; however, in 2014 the verdict was overturned because of insufficient
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evidence since the judge believed Valle had been found guilty for his thoughts not actions (Ek,
2015, p.910). The government appealed Valle being released and in 2015 went to the second
circuit of the appeals court, but it is likely they could take the appeal to the supreme court.
This is a cybercrime case because Valle used chatrooms on a website to plan and describe
how he wanted to kidnap, rape, murder, and eat over 100 women in gory detail. Almost all of the
evidence for this case was discovered on a computer. Additionally, Valle used a computer and
his status as a police officer to access information on potential targets. The only reason I know of
as to why Valle went on this website and actively participated in these chats is to satisfy his
sexual desires. Although he spent 20 months in jail before the verdict was overturned, I believe
this case raises many questions. I truly believe Valle is a threat to society given the actions he
took in his life, such as visiting one of the targets, but he remains innocent by law. I hope that as
technology advances more laws are created to clarify grey areas such as this case.
Part 3: Deterring Cybercrime
A large issue when discussing cybercrime is how to deal with these types of criminals
and how we keep cybercrime from happening. Unlike traditional crime, cybercrime has no
boundaries; this creates jurisdictional issues when cybercriminals commit their crimes from a
different state or even country (Holt, 2018, p.143). Holt suggests a way to deter cybercrime is to
create more criminal laws on cybercrime (Holt, 2018, p.145). This would help because it would
create punishment for committing cybercrime that might not already be written in the law.
Additionally, it is important to reinforce these laws because people won’t be deterred if there are
no consequences for their actions. Citizens can help in this process by reporting cybercrime
when it happens. Another suggestion made by Holt is to create special task forces that would
work with task forces of other countries to investigate cybercrimes (Hol, 2018, p.145). Although
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I thought this sounded like a great idea, according to Holt, little research backs up the idea that
this will help (Holtt, 2018, p.145). Lastly, service providers also play a role in stopping and
preventing cybercrime. Service providers aren’t aware of every single thing that happens using
their services; therefore, I don’t think they should be held responsible for another’s choice to use
their services to commit criminal acts. However, service providers have responsibility to stop
and report such illegal acts when they are discovered and should be punished if they don’t.
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References
Chawki, M., Darwish, A., Khan, M. A., & Tyagi, S. (2015). Cybercrime, digital forensics and
jurisdiction(Vol. 593). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Ek, K. (2015). CONSPIRACY AND THE FANTASY DEFENSE: THE STRANGE CASE
OF THE CANNIBAL COP. Duke Law Journal, 64, 901–1717.
Holt, T. J. (2018). Regulating Cybercrime through Law Enforcement and Industry
Mechanisms. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
679(1), 140–157.
Jahankhani, H. (2018). Cyber criminology(1st ed.). Cham: Springer.
Moore, R. (2015). Cybercrime: investigating high-technology computer crime(2nd ed.).
London: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.