Cybercrimeology1 Des 2025

The Human beneath the Hoodie: Profiling pathways into cybercrime

otes:

Melissa completed her PhD after two decades of operational work, bringing a pracademic perspective to cyber profiling and offender pathways.

Her research focuses on understanding the human behind the keyboard through developmental history, motivation and lived experience.

Initial motivations among hackers often centre on curiosity, challenge seeking and belonging rather than financial gain.

Many participants reported early interest in technology, solitary online activity and experiences they described as destabilising events.

Melissa distinguishes between lawful and criminal pathways using indicators such as modifying games, low self-control and a history of property offending.

Her work highlights misunderstandings about intent, the role of gamification and the abstraction of harm when offending takes place online.

She argues that cybercrime is a societal problem requiring early education, parental and teacher capability building and partnerships with tech and gaming companies.

Diversion programs are essential to guide youth with technical interest toward prosocial cybersecurity roles rather than criminalisation.

About our guest:
Dr Melissa Martineau
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-martineau-369bb5258/
https://www.captechu.edu/webinar-series-melissa-martineau

Papers or resources mentioned in this episode:
Martineau, M. (2023). The pathways of cyber dependent offenders. Journal of Cybercriminology, 3(3), 32.
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6756/3/3/32

Martineau, M. (2024). Distinguishing lawful and criminal hacker trajectories. Journal of Cybercriminology, 4(4), 45.
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6756/4/4/45

Other:
Dr Martineau wanted to share something called PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) which is a helpful guideline designed to improve the reporting of systematic reviews. You can find out more about it here.
http://www.prisma-statement.org

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(132)

A Treacherous Land: Cyberstalking and Harassment on Dating Apps

Notes: Ms. Ayerza studied criminology, forensic behavioural sciences and psychology. Her early research examined eyewitness memory and the re-entry of exonerees before she became interested in cyber...

1 Aug 23min

Snapshots of Society: Studying Cybercrime Every Here

Notes: Irnasya Hadi explains how growing up with the internet, and being frustrated by the limited connection between critical criminology and cybercrime, drew her toward the study of cyber insecuri...

1 Jul 29min

No News is Bad News: AI Agents, Information Value, Accountability & Democracy

Notes: Dr. Bridgman discusses his path from Winnipeg to McGill and how he became involved with the Media Ecosystem Observatory while still a PhD student. The conversation turns to the origins of th...

1 Jun 34min

Public Interest Technology: Making Sense of Security in an AI World

Notes: The conversation begins with his path into teaching public policy, despite never having planned a conventional academic career, and why translating technical subjects for non-technical studen...

1 Mai 34min

Who You Gonna Call?: Cybercrime Types and Expectations of Police Response

Notes: Cybercrime is often treated as a distinct phenomenon, but there are strong continuities with offline crime that are frequently overlooked. Digital technologies change behaviour and scale, bu...

1 Apr 30min

Disordered Sense-Making: Conflict Narratives in the Digital Era

Notes: Dr Samuel Tanner began his doctoral research examining war crimes and armed militias involved in mass violence in the Balkans, conducting extensive fieldwork and interviews with participants ...

1 Mar 36min

Beyond “The Cybercriminal”: Understanding Diversity in Cyber Offenders

Notes:Dr Bekkers describes his academic pathway from psychology to criminology and explains why his research focus has consistently been on offenders and their behaviour rather than on offences or tec...

1 Feb 25min

Systematically Improving Cybersecurity Training

Notes:Julia Prümmer describes her transition from legal psychology into cybersecurity research and how psychological methods shape her approach to cybersecurity training.The discussion explores the ro...

1 Jan 49min