사이버공간에서의 피해자에 대한 피해인식과 사이버범죄행위

The Perceived Harmfulness of Victim and Cyber Crime

There are few studies to find a factor for explaining cyber crime. This study focuses on the reduces social presence of computer mediated communication on cyber space, which leads to less attention paid to the other participant and victims of crime. This article examines the effect of the perceived degree of victim or harmfulness on cyber crime. I hypothesize that those who perceive the higher harmfulness of cyber crime are less likely to commit cyber crime. This study also hypothesizes that the harmfulness of cyber crime may be bases for judging the seriousness of crime and the perceived harmfulness of victim has an indirect important effect on cyber crime through the attitudes of cyber crime. Using data from 1113 middle/high school students in Seoul, 2003, this study tests the effect of the perceived harmfulness of victim on cyber crime. Results reveal that the effect of the perceived degree of harmfulness on cyber crime is strong and its effect is partially mediated by attitudes toward cyber crime. The policy implications of those results are discussed.