The Centre for Criminological Research is organising a seminar series focusing on technology, crime and criminal justice. The second seminar will take place on 6 December titled “Non-state responses”

Overview of the series

‘Technology’ taking place in Semester 1 2023-24 marks the first of our thematic CCR seminar series. It recognises the increasingly omnipresent effects of technology on the harms and crimes we experience (Panel 1); the criminal justice institutions who respond to those harms (panel 2); and, on the online crime control activities of non-state actors, including citizens, i.e., so-called paedophile hunters, and big tech and the private sector (Panel 3).

Our second thematic series will take place in Semester 2 2023-24 on the theme of ‘Carcerality’. Further details of speakers and events will be circulated nearer the time.

Date of event: Wednesday 6 December 2023

Event Time: 4 - 6 pm

Panellists:

• • Dr Andy Williams
  • Dr Daniel Trottier
  • Magdalena (Magda) Brewczynska

Event Location: Online - Joining links will be sent the day before the event

The event is hosted by Professor Layla Skinns, Dr Marie Hutton, Dr Joe Purshouse and Dr Ana Morales-Gomez.

Panel 2: Non-state responses

4-6 pm, Wednesday 6 December 2023, Online

Rapid advances in technology over the course of the last decade have created opportunities for citizens and other non-state entities to engage in crime control. Citizens can leverage cyberspace to rapidly gather evidence and disseminate information about those targeted by their crime prevention activities. Private entities have also been able to cultivate complex working relationships with state law enforcement agencies to engage in surveillance and crime prevention. Through expert contributions, this research seminar explores how technological advancements and economies of scale have concentrated the power to engage in surveillance and other crime control-oriented pursuits into the hands of non-state entities, and to explore the social and legal implications of these developments.

Abstract 1

“Taxi-For-One” Citizen-Led Public Protection or an Online Rough Music? Findings from an Online Ethnography of UK Paedophile Hunter Groups.

This presentation explores key findings of a 4-year online ethnography of UK paedophile hunter groups. It focuses on a thematic analysis of paedophile hunter sting videos posted to Facebook and YouTube between 2016 and 2020, online observations and Facebook news feed screenshots. The central aim is to provide one of the first in-depth studies of UK hunter groups’ online activities and to explore the ways in which visibility is weaponised as a form of naming and shaming of suspected online sexual groomers of children. This presentation provides a brief outline of some of the key findings/themes identified in the analysis of the sting videos, asking whether such activities are yet another online rough music or whether they should be framed within the more neutral concept of citizen-led public protection. Finally, recommendations are discussed.

Abstract 2

Between Justice Seeking and Entertainment: Digital Vigilantism and the Court of Public Opinion

Individuals rely on digital media to denounce others. In some cases this is accepted as an appropriate response to criminal and moral injustices, or other grievances. Yet digital vigilantism may also bring unwarranted harms, for example when reproducing categorical forms of discrimination. Both offence taking and its response are expressed online by gathering and distributing information about targeted individuals. By seeking their own form of criminal and social justice, digital media users can challenge state legitimacy. Yet digital vigilantism includes shaming and other forms of cultural violence that are not clearly monopolised, or even regulated. While earlier scholarship considers the court of public opinion in terms of journalistic interventions in legal proceedings, this presentation proposes a radical expansion of both the actors involved and the cases explored in the public eye. This amounts to a mainstreaming of the scrutiny and assessment of both public figures and private citizens through an assemblage of actors, devices and platforms. While movements like #metoo bring accountability to long-neglected forms of sexual violence and oppression, these repertoires are also mobilised by alt-right populists for political gain. This presentation is attentive to the routinisation of mediated scrutiny and denunciation, in order to situate the discourses and practices that gain salience. Focusing on prominent and minor cases in the Anglo-American and Dutch contexts, it suggests that not only are sites like Twitter and Reddit platforms for disputing targets’ reputations but that the legitimacy of these very practices is also frequently disputed.

Abstract 3

Private Policing in the Data-Driven Society The Flexible State Monopoly on Force Challenged but Not Abandoned

The idea of the monopoly of a state for the legitimate use of coercive powers is widespread in the writings of legal scholars. However, a theoretical and historical perspective on the relationship between the state and non-state actors in policing shows that it is not as firmly established as many may think. While the state remains a crucial player in the enforcement of law, some of its powers have been relinquished in the data-driven society due to the engagement of the private parties. Private policing offers the state a possibility to extend its surveillance capacities, but also poses fundamental questions regarding the shape of the future criminal justice system and further challenges the idea of state’s monopoly of power. How big should the Leviathan be when it comes to data? This chapter offers a reflection on this vital question and on the role of lawyers in the debate on how to legitimate ongoing processes of transition to a broader security landscape where the use of force is (re)distributed amongst several actors.

Speaker information:

Speaker 1: Dr Andy Williams is Principal Lecturer at Institute for Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth. Dr Williams’ current research is an online ethnography of online child sex offender activism and profiling child sexual groomers.

Speaker 2: Dr Daniel Trottier is an Associate Professor at the Department of Media and Communication of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His current research considers the use of digital media for the purposes of scrutiny, denunciation and shaming.

Speaker 3: Magdalena (Magda) Brewczynska is a PhD researcher at Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT). She holds an LL.M. (cum laude) in Law & Technology from Tilburg University (2018) and a Master’s degree in Law obtained at Jagiellonian University in Cracow (2015). Her research interests encompass privacy, data protection and cybersecurity, as well European criminal law and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing policies.