Criminals in Computer Related Crimes
Date: December 11, 2003Source: Computer Crime Research Center
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... committed by men is 5 times greater. 53,7% of criminals have higher or incomplete higher technical education, and 19,2% [7] of them have other higher or incomplete higher education. Lately, the number of women engaged in these crimes is increasing. It is concerned with women’s occupations related to workplaces equipped by automated computer systems, women’s oriented positions (secretary, accountant, economist, manager, cashier, inspector, etc).
Criminological researches testify that:
• 52% of the established criminals had special training in field of automated computer information processing;
• 97% of public authorities and institutions employees, that used computer systems and information technologies in their everyday life;
• 30% of them had direct relation to computer means exploitation.
Commitment of crimes by employees of organizations, which hold responsible positions, exists too. Experts note that more than 25% of computer crimes are committed by heads of organizations. Modern leaders, as a rule, being specialists of high level, possessing sufficient computer and professional knowledge, have access to information of wide use and can make orders, but are not directly responsible for work of computer systems.
Share of crimes which consist in distribution of harmful computer software, makes 19,7% from the general amount of computer crimes. Distribution of the harmful software is mainly carried out during realization of pirate software. Such releases usually contain different sets of software designed for “breaking” computer systems, and also harmful software - software bookmarks and viruses.
According to Article 20 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine a criminal [8], definition provided for by part 1 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is any individual which at the moment of committing a crime attained age of sixteen years. It is general criminal legal personality. The obligatory condition of making the criminal responsible for the committed socially dangerous and illegal action is its sanity – ability to understand social significance of own actions and to manage them. Irresponsible persons are not subject to criminal responsibility (Article 21 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
It is possible to foresee that the decrease of age for criminal responsibility for crimes in sphere of computer technologies will take place in future. It is dictated by more frequent offences related to illegal access to computer information that are performed by minor persons which did not attain age of criminal responsibility.
Finally it is necessary to note that the conducted sociological and criminological researches illustrate few categories of criminals committing illegal intervention in work of computers, systems and computer networks:
1. General subject:
• any responsible person, reached 16 years
• any person working in automated information system or network, or using their services (legal user), but having no right to work with information of certain category, also outsider (non-user).
2. Persons which illegally access computer information being in group by previous plot or organized group.
It theory of criminal law and judicial practice have different points of view on concept of the group crime [9].
We consider that only actions of those persons who directly took part in illegal access to computer information as accomplices of crime can be characterized by “group of previous plot” feature (they are engaged entirely or partly in committing a crime). Thus at least two of accomplices are to meet the common requirements of criminals, that is: to be responsible (or limitedly responsible) and reach age of criminal responsibility set by a law.
[1] Criminology, edited by A. Dolgovoy, Moscow: IT IS, 1999, p.280.
[2] Typology and Classification in Sociological Research, Moscow: IT IS, 1982, p.15.
[3] K. Igoshev, Criminal Personality Typology and Criminal Conduct Motivation, Horky: 1974, p. 66.
[4] V. Golubev, A. Golovin, Problems of Investigating Computer Crimes, http://www.crime-research.org/library/New_g.htm
[5] V. Golubev, Investigating Computer crime / Monograph - Zaporozhye: University of Humanities “ZISMG”, 2002.
[6] P. Bilenchuk, B. Romanuk, V. Tsimbaluk, Computer Criminality, textbook, Kiev: Atika, 2002, p.123.
[7] V. Golubev, Criminological Description of Computer Crime, Entrepreneurship, economy and law, 2002, p.11.
[8] N. Ivanov, Group Criminality: Contents and Legal Regulation, State and Law, 1996, p.9
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