The Severity and Certainty of Punishment on the Cyberstalking Offense: An Application of Deterrence Theory

Technological advancements have benefited society in numerous ways yet have provided offenders with new criminal opportunities through cyberspace. Crimes of stalking traditionally committed within physical space have now progressed into cyberstalking via the virtual world. There have been few empirical studies that examine the characteristics of cyberstalking offenders in relation to their incarceration sentence. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to apply elements of deterrence theory (the severity and certainty of punishment) to investigate what factors influence cyberstalking punishments. The findings of the study indicate that there is a relationship between type of offense and penalty and between severity of damage to the victim and penalty. The study found no relationship between number of law enforcement agencies and penalty. Policy implications and limitations of this study are discussed.