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Assessing the Detrimental Impact of Cyber-Victimization on Self-Perceived Community Safety

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Cybercrime in Context

Part of the book series: Crime and Justice in Digital Society ((CJDS,volume I))

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Abstract

The internet has grown to become a primary means of interpersonal communication in many developed nations, bringing with it novel avenues for victimization. Academic study has demonstrated that these harms have significant adverse impacts on their victims’ sense of safety, both in digital and “real world” domains. Despite academic awareness, cyber-victimization remains largely absent from North American assessments of community safety. This study uses a cross-sectional sample of Canadian residents aged 15 or older, collected by Statistics Canada for the 28th cycle of the General Social Survey, to assess self-perceived community safety reported by individuals who had experienced cyber-victimization in the previous 12 months. Results indicated that the cyber-victimization group reported a significantly lower sense of safety, and that individuals who experienced cyber- and localized victimization were most adversely affected. This paper was intended to provide clarity for the development of community safety research in Canada, and includes policy discussion tailored toward this purpose.

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  1. Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, ON, Canada

    James F. Popham

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  1. Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Marleen Weulen Kranenbarg

  2. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Rutger Leukfeldt

  3. Centre of Expertise Cyber Security, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Rutger Leukfeldt

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Popham, J.F. (2021). Assessing the Detrimental Impact of Cyber-Victimization on Self-Perceived Community Safety. In: Weulen Kranenbarg, M., Leukfeldt, R. (eds) Cybercrime in Context. Crime and Justice in Digital Society, vol I. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60527-8_7

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