Ranking Needs for Fighting Digital Abuse: Sextortion, Swatting, Doxing, Cyberstalking and Nonconsensual Pornography

• NCJ Number: 255636
• Date Published: November 2020
• Author(s): National Institute of Justice
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Article

Annotation

This article details efforts to identify new forms of electronic crime, procure and present the digital evidence needed to prosecute them, and identify and support victims.

Abstract

Sextortion, swatting, doxing, cyberstalking, and nonconsensual pornography, all recent entries in the crime glossary, represent a whole new world of challenges for law enforcement, the courts, and victims. So far, the criminal justice system has struggled to detect and react to these electronic crime forms, procure and present the digital evidence needed to prosecute them, and identify and support victims. A diverse expert panel, convened as part of the National Institute of Justice’s Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative, has identified top needs for fighting such technology-facilitated abuse technology-facilitated abuse). The panel, supported by the RAND Corporation and RTI International, ranked needs by a blended weighting of the relative importance of each challenge and the probability of achieving an associated solution.