L'utilisation des TIC à des fins de harcèlement criminel en situation de violence conjugale: la théorie des opportunités et des activités routinières de Cohen et Felson (1978) remaniée
Introduced in 1978, the lifestyle and routine activities theory of Cohen and Felson remains one of the most cited theory to explain criminal activities. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has transformed traditional forms of crime, such as criminal stalking and harassment. The ICT are often used in domestic violence cases to harass and stalk the victim, even when she is seeking security in shelters. This problematic was brought to our attention by shelter workers, who consider those technologies an actual threat for women and their children, but also for the shelter and the interventions. With the collaboration of police investigators, a professor from the École des sciences criminelles de Lausanne and shelter workers, data were collected through interviews then analyzed, in order to adapt the Cohen and Felson’s lifestyle and routine activities theory in cases of ICT use for stalking, in intimate partner violence relationships. The crime targeted by this study, criminal stalking and harassment committed through ICT, is developed according to the Criminal Code but also according to the police officer and the shelter workers, to understand its particularities. In this study, the motivated offender is the partner controlling his wife using various devices to track and harass her, even when she quit the violent situation to seek security in a shelter. In this case, her unstable emotional state and the fact that her partner knows her well make the present or former wife vulnerable and, therefore, a suitable target. Also, the emotional context surrounding the domestic violence situation can destabilize her when she receives text messages or e-mails from her partner, trying to convince her to come back. Finally, shelters and the police investigation are there seen as a capable guardian. In fact, women in shelters have the possibility to turn off their technology in a secure environment where they can get the support they need. Even if the ICT can, in one hand, impede the intervention, it can also be a rich source of information, on the other hand. Indeed, when a police investigation takes place, this digital information can be used as evidence in criminal court to prove the stalking. Thereby, Cohen and Felson’s theory of opportunities and routine activity is revisited in the ICT era and put forward the meeting of criminological and forensic science.
Lifestyle and routine activities theory Cyberstalking Intimate partner violence Digital forensic Information and communication technologies (ICT)