An Investigative Model of Adult Cyberbullying: A Court Case Analysis

TL;DR

This paper presents an investigative model for adult cyberbullying, analyzing court cases across multiple countries to understand the process from conception to action, grounded in criminological theories.

Contribution

It introduces a novel investigative framework for adult cyberbullying based on criminological theories and validates it with real court case data from four countries.

Findings

Model effectively maps cyberbullying stages from conception to action.

Validation with 20 international court cases supports the model's applicability.

Provides insights into adult cyberbullying dynamics and legal proceedings.

Abstract

Cyberbullying is a major social issue that is on the rise with a substantial potential to impact a large number of Internet users globally. The growth and rapid proliferation of the Internet and other ubiquitous technologies like social media and smart mobile devices have increased the propensity of cyberbullying, providing it with a wider audience and rapid access. This research developed an investigative model for cyberbullying, specifically developed for adults. Therein, the model considers the cyberbullying journey from conception of the bullying idea, identification of the target to the bullying as an action. The a-priori model is motivated by the General Theory of Crime and the Routine Activity Theory. The a-priori model is then validated using 20 cyberbullying court cases from Australia, Canada, the United States and Scotland.