Crime and the Cyber Periphery: Criminological Theory Beyond Time and Space

Abstract

The internet and social media have opened the world to new forms of personal, social and political expression, ranging from ambiguous deviancy (e.g. sexting) to promising democratic advances (social justice campaigns, the Arab spring) and to extremism (e.g. ISIS or far right propaganda). These alternative and amorphous public (and semipublic) spheres require new conceptualization that push criminology’s epistemological gaze into extraterritoriality. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are now engrained into the fabric of our daily lives, yet criminological theory seems hopelessly trapped in the terrestrial world. This chapter explores the capacities and limits of criminology to comprehend crime and deviance in the age of the internet and asks whether ideas derived from Southern criminology might usefully be applied to in in these cyber contexts.