Book Review: Clifford, R. D. (Ed.). (2006). Cybercrime: The Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of a Computer-Related Crime (2nd ed.). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. xii pp., 282 pp

• Published date: 01 June 2008
• Date: 01 June 2008
• Author: Michael Bachmann
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567708319404
• Subject Matter: Articles

The book will suit a variety of readers who will open it with completely different purposes in mind.

It not only portrays a general picture for a layperson interested in learning about a burgeoning new

form of crime but also informs scholars on future research directions, provides policy makers valu-

able ideas for potential policy agendas, and offers enforcement agencies recommendations for

improving control efforts in the area of intellectual property rights.

Haiyan Liu

Indiana University-Bloomington

Clifford, R. D. (Ed.). (2006). Cybercrime: The Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of a

Computer-Related Crime (2nd ed.). Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. xii pp., 282 pp.

DOI: 10.1177/1057567708319404

The increasingly crucial dependence of today’s modern societies on computer networks, particu-

larly the Internet, has fundamentally changed the face of cybercrimes, and it has also moved the for-

merly marginalized area of cyber-criminological study into the focus of mainstream criminological

attention. The investigation of cybercrimes, however, is a relatively new field within criminological

research and, as such, it remains burdened with several essential problems that other areas have already

overcome. One such problem is the absence of a widely agreed on definition of what exactly consti-

tutes a cybercrime. The term “cybercrime,”although having considerable currency in discourses within

the media, politics, academics, and the public, still currently lacks a precise legal definition.

Ralph D. Clifford offers a practical solution to this problem in his second edition of Cybercrime:

The Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of a Computer-Related Crime.Instead of continuing the

debate with just another proposed definition, Clifford and the team of legal experts he assembled

question the practicality of attempting to subsume the vast scale of multifaceted phenomena that is

encompassed by the term “cybercrime” under one legal definition. In this regard, the second edition

of the book presents an important conceptual break that calls into question the appropriateness of the

very debate surrounding the legal definition of the term “cybercrime.” Instead of continuing the aca-

demic search for one overarching legal definition, the approach taken in this second edition is to

examine the practical implications for investigators, prosecutors, and defense attorneys of the vari-

ous cybercrime-related statutes.

Clifford’s general introduction of the book is followed by four chapters from different authors, all

of whom are experienced and renowned experts in their respective fields. Chapters two, three, and

four present different perspectives on the various legislative acts, statutes, and court decisions that

together comprise and shape the current legal definitions of computer-related misconduct in the

United States. The concluding chapter then extends the book’s scope beyond the national level with

an assessment of the progress that has been made in internationally cooperative efforts undertaken

to combat criminal acts in a borderless environment such as the Internet.

In chapter two, Susan W. Brenner, an internationally recognized expert in legal aspects of com-

puter-related criminal conduct, provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of the most rele-

vant cybercrime legislation in the United States. She begins the chapter with a discussion of whether

cybercrimes are sufficiently distinctive from traditional, “terrestrial” crimes to necessitate the adop-

tion of substantively new criminal legislation. Based on the conclusion that the qualitative novelty of

cybercrimes does in fact require the implementation of specialized legislation, she then proceeds to

illustrate the current statutes on the federal and the state level in great detail. Throughout the chap-

ter, Brenner demonstrates that the existing United States cybercrime laws, with only a few excep-

tions on the state level, are sufficient and appropriate to effectively combat the various kinds of cyber

246 International Criminal Justice Review