The surge in cyberbullying and crime among British teenagers
In recent years, although traditional crimes have decreased, cybercrime and cyberbullying among teenagers have increased significantly. In 2014, the Public Health England under the UK Department of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) jointly released a report on 5,335 students aged 11 to 15. The results showed that 17.9% of teenagers had experienced cyberbullying in the past two months.
At the same time, cybercrime, including fraud, dissemination of inappropriate content and social media abuse, has also grown rapidly in the UK, and now accounts for 40% of all computer crimes. These data show that cybercrime and cyberbullying are becoming an increasingly serious social problem among teenagers.
Wireless network jammers may be a new era solution
Regarding cyber crime, Thomas, chairman of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "We need to stop using 19th century sanctions to deal with 21st century crime. It costs about £38,000 a year to put someone in prison, but the recidivism rate for short sentences is extremely high. Although we can continue to imprison criminals, this does not solve the root of the problem in the long run."
A senior police officer suggested that for young people who commit cyber crimes, they should consider wearing wireless signal jammers to restrict their use of the Internet instead of sending them directly to prison.
Chief Superintendent Gavin Thomas suggested that technology could be used to restrict the access of convicted teenagers to the Internet. He suggested that convicted criminals could be fitted with electronic wifi blocker devices on their wrists or ankles to block WiFi signals, thereby preventing them from connecting to the Internet. Thomas pointed out that for many young people, losing the right to use a smartphone or computer would be an extremely effective punishment.
Thomas also added that although this proposal may bring practical and human rights challenges, the Ministry of Justice should seriously consider this. He told the Daily Telegraph: "If a 16-year-old has hacked into your account and stolen your identity, that's a 21st century crime, so we should have a 21st century approach to dealing with it." He suggested that such wifi signal jammers could be used as part of community sentencing, by restricting young offenders' internet or wifi access for a period of time, forcing them to do community service and receive an education program related to the ethics and values of online behavior.
Calls to tackle social media crime
The criminal justice system needs to pay attention to the growing problem of social media crime. The huge difference between young people's online behavior and their real-life behavior is becoming more and more serious, and British society urgently needs to find a strategy to deal with it.
