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Book Review
The Psychology of Cyber Crime:
Concept and Principles
Reviewed by Maximiliano E. Korstanje, University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Psychology of Cyber Crime: Concepts and Principles
Gráinne Kirwan and Andrew Power
© 2012 by IGI Global
372 pp.
$156.00
ISBN 978-161350350-8
A philosophical debate has been posed over last decades in industrial societies, where the cyber-
world not only modified peoples´ life-styles, but taking attention to the advance of cyber-space
which was originally consigned as a prolongation of reality. Cyberspace is defined as a network
or shared enviroment in which communication goes through. The global network facilitated by
internet allows a rapid connection for people to engage with others, selling and buying (exchanging)
commodities. In recent years, some philosophers paid heed on the negative effects of cyberspace
for individual behavior. This led to Jean Baudrillard to announce that the principle of reality
sets the pace to a hyper-reality where events remained unreal. Hollywood echoed this concern
by starring the film Matrix, a fictional saga that denotes a much deeper philosophical problem
formulated by Plato in the Cavern; which means the connection of pleasure with displeasure or
“the real and perceived enviroment”. Though this dilemma is not new, it was aggravated by the
appearance of cyberspace. To put this in bluntly, all of a sudden we are in a different world and
one that we must face up to. In a globalized economy, all resources to protect civil populations
from cyber-attacks should be taken by government. Although social sciences and scientists have
widely focused on the problems and benefits of cyber-world, a marginal attention was given to
the psychology of cyber-criminals or those persons who take the virtual to violate citizens ‘rights.
As the previous backdrop, in this book, G. Kirwan & A. Power set forward 13 chapters which
are based on the sociology of cybercrime as the main topic. Taking their cue from the consolidated
legacy of forensic psychology in criminal behavior, authors understand that goals and motive of
cyber-criminals (which range from specific examples as theft towards child pornography and