
Adam M. BosslerGeorgia Southern University | GSU · Criminal Justice and Criminology
Adam M. Bossler
PhD
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72
Publications
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
August 2008 - present
Publications
Publications (72)
Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure by ideology-based hackers may have both significant financial costs and public safety consequences. Scholars have been increasingly using Sykes and Matza’s (1957) techniques of neutralization to better understand the commission of various forms of cybercrime, including that of computer hacking. This study ex...
The significant economic and emotional consequences of online fraud have not been equally matched by the policing response to these offenses. This paper examines constables’ and sergeants’ perceived preparation to respond to online fraud through a quantitative analyses of survey data collected from over 1300 officers from 35 local police agencies a...
This Major Reference Work synthesizes the global knowledge on cybercrime from the leading international criminologists and scholars across the social sciences. The constant evolution of technology and our relationship to devices and their misuse creates a complex challenge requiring interdisciplinary knowledge and exploration. This work addresses t...
Purpose
Cybercrime is the greatest threat facing law enforcement agencies in England and Wales. Although these crimes are transnational by nature, the burden of response has been placed on line officers. Not all officers, however, believe they are capable of responding to calls involving cybercrime. The current study, using latent class analysis (L...
Scholars have expressed concerns over the effectiveness of formal sanctions in deterring cybercrime, particularly regarding computer intrusions and cyber attacks. Little empirical research, however, examines deterrence in the cyber world. This study examines the effects of perceived formal and informal sanctions, computer skill, online behaviors, c...
The advancement of the Internet and digital technology has enabled individuals to commit crimes affecting both virtual and real targets at will. Criminological scholarship related to cybercrime and technology-enabled offending has primarily focused on offenders and victims, calling to question how police agencies effectively respond to these incide...
The ubiquity of the Internet and computer technology has enabled individuals to engage in bullying, threats, and harassing communications online. Limited research has found that local line officers may not view these offenses as serious compared to real world crimes despite their negative physical and emotional impact on victims. The perceptions of...
This study investigates the predictors of four types of cybercrime victimization/experiences: online harassment, hacking, identity theft, and receiving nude photos or explicit content. The effects of victimization opportunity and low self-control are examined as the primary independent variables in logistic regression analyses of data collected fro...
This study examines the perceptions of police constables and sergeants across England and Wales regarding the nature of cybercrimes, their frequency, and any time spent investigating these offences each week. Though previous research has examined line officer views and police management in the US, there is limited research examining how constables...
This study attempted to confirm the existence of a suppression situation among social learning, low self-control, and software piracy measures. Using a cross-sectional study of middle and high school students, structural equation modeling was used to confirm the measurement of a second-order social learning factor and the existence of a mediated su...
The ability to gain unauthorized access to computer systems to engage in espionage and data theft poses a massive threat to individuals worldwide. There has been minimal focus, however, on the role of malicious software, or malware, which can automate this process. This study examined the macro-correlates of malware infection at the national level...
Technology plays an increasingly prominent role in day-to-day life around the world, enabling communications, information sharing, and commerce. At the same time, criminals and extremists can subvert computers, cell phones, and the Internet to achieve economic or ideological goals. This chapter will consider how the global nature of the Internet an...
The development of the Internet and computer-mediated communications (CMC), such as email and instant messaging, has transformed the lives of young people. The ability to communicate in near real time with others provides beneficial social impact, though it has also created unique opportunities for victimization. Research has focused on certain for...
Over the last decade, researchers have conducted a significant amount of research to explore the causes and consequences of cyberbullying, where individuals use the Internet in order to send harmful and aggressive messages. Using a sample of middle and high school students in Kentucky, the current study utilized low self-control and social learning...
The emergence of the World Wide Web, smartphones, and Computer-Mediated Communications (CMCs) profoundly affect the way in which people interact online and offline. Individuals who engage in socially unacceptable or outright criminal acts increasingly utilize technology to connect with one another in ways that are not otherwise possible in the real...
This study utilized routine activity theory to examine the relationships between online behaviors, target suitability, and cyber and mobile phone-based bullying victimization in a nationally representative sample of youth from nine schools across Singapore. Key measures in all three categories-access to technology, online routine behaviors, and tar...
Computers and the Internet have become a vital part of modern life across the world, affecting communications, finance, and governance. At the same time, technology has created unparalleled opportunities for crime and deviance on- and off-line. Criminological research has expanded its focus over the last two decades to address the various forms of...
The threat of attacks enabled by malicious software, or programs used to compromise computer systems and steal information, has increased dramatically over the last two decades. There has, however, been little research considering the correlates of malware infection victimization. Thus, this study attempts to refine the existing literature on malwa...
Community-oriented policing has shaped law enforcement over the past 30 years, providing innovative strategies to identify and combat crime problems through collaborative community partnerships. The success of community policing strategies in some contexts has led some scholars and police administrators to call for the adoption of these programs in...
A substantial body of research has developed surrounding the phenomenon of bullying online and off-line among youth populations. These studies demonstrate there are significant psychological and emotional consequences for bullying victims. Researchers have not, however, explored in depth how these outcomes differ across the sexes based on the types...
Online harassment can consist of threatening, worrisome, emotionally hurtful, or sexual messages delivered via an electronic medium that can lead victims to feel fear or distress much like real-world harassment and stalking. This activity is especially prevalent among middle and high school populations who frequently use technology as a means to co...
Researchers have explored the empirical validity of linking key concepts from Gottfredson and Hirschi’s general theory of crime and Akers’ social learning theory. Much of this research, however, has neither included measures of differential reinforcement and imitation nor operationalized the social learning process as a second-order latent construc...
Although scholars and law enforcement administrators have provided input on how local law enforcement is responding to various
forms of computer crime and how officers perceive of it, patrol officers have been rarely surveyed to understand their perceptions
of computer crime. Examining officer perceptions is vital considering that patrol officers a...
Abstract Cybercrime has created substantial challenges for law enforcement, particularly at the local level. Most scholars and police administrators believe that patrol officers need to become more effective first responders to cybercrime calls. The evidence illustrates, however, that many patrol officers are neither adequately prepared nor strongl...
Criminological research exploring the phenomena of cybercrime and technology-enabled offending has increased dramatically over the last two decades, examining changes in offender behavior, victim characteristics, and the applicability of existing theories for these crimes. There is no systematic assessment of this literature or the gaps in our know...
Purpose
Little empirical research exists regarding how local law enforcement has responded to cybercrime. This paper aims to understand: the law enforcement agencies that line officers believe should be primarily responsible for investigating cybercrime cases; their perceptions about their agency's current ability to respond to these offenses; and...
The development of computers, cell phones, and the Internet allows individuals to connect with one another with ease in a variety of ways in near real time. The beneficial impact of these resources, however, has been adulterated by some to engage in abusive communications while online. Specifically, individuals now use email, text messaging, and so...
Though in recent years, a number of studies have been completed on hackers’ personality and communication traits by experts in the fields of psychology and criminology, a number of questions regarding this population remain. Does Gottfredson and Hirschi’s concept of low self-control predict the unauthorized access of computer systems? Do computer h...
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime and Akers’ (1998) social learning theory have received strong empirical support for explaining crime in both the physical and cyberworlds.
Most of the studies examining cybercrime, however, have only used college samples. In addition, the evidence on the interaction
between low self-control a...
Though in recent years, a number of studies have been completed on hackers’ personality and communication traits by experts in the fields of psychology and criminology, a number of questions regarding this population remain. Does Gottfredson and Hirschi’s concept of low self-control predict the unauthorized access of computer systems? Do computer h...
In light of the differences between traditional forms of victimization and cybercrime victimization, this study examined whether the expansion of self-control theory to the field of victimization could help explain cybercrime victimization as well. This study found that self-control had a weak relationship with multiple forms of cybercrime victimiz...
Akers’ social learning theory is one of the most recognized criminological theories because of its comprehensiveness and strong empirical support. Recent research that has applied social learning theory to account for the problem of cybercrime and deviance has provided only partial examinations of the social learning process and gives little insigh...
Though in recent years, a number of studies have been completed on hackers' personality and communication traits by experts in the fields of psychology and criminology, a number of questions regarding this population remain. Does Gottfredson and Hirschi's concept of low self-control predict the unauthorized access of computer systems? Do computer h...
Malicious software, such as viruses and Trojan horse programs, can automate a variety of attacks for criminals and is partially responsible for the global increase in cybercrime. Criminology, however, has been slow to explore the theoretical causes and correlates of malware victimization. This study uses a routine activities framework to explore da...
A great deal of criminological research has attempted to understand and identify the causes of victimization using the lifestyle-routine activities theory. Recent researchers have argued that the lifestyle-routine activities theory may be able to explain the increasingly significant phenomenon of computer and cybercrime. This claim has been contest...
Thesis (M.S.)--Illinois State University, 2000. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-155).