A CRITIC OF EXPIATION THEORY ON CYBERCRIME

Abstract

The prevalence of cybercrime perpetration in Nigeria and to the world at large is said to be worrisome as victims of cybercrime have lost their personal belongings to this menace. However, the criminal justice system which is to provide justice for victims of cybercrime and also to serve as a deterrence to supposed criminals, have not been able to discourage its practices. Several person(s) has fallen prey to cybercrime activities as about 73% of cyber space users have fallen victim of cybercrime. Thus, victims of cybercrime will always be faced with cyber fraudsters and therefore, arise the need to redress this menace. This study focus on; the conceptualization of the concepts, crime theory, theory of punishment, principles for theory of punishment, distinguishing punitive and expiatory system, theories of crimes and punishment, expiation theory of punishment, assumption of expiation theory, application of expiation theory on cybercrime, and conclusion and recommendation. Secondary source of data collection was adopted for this study. The study concluded that the act of expiation enables offenders, victims and the criminal justice system to participate in a process which could help them and heal the damage caused by their offences. The offenders basically attempt to fix the harm they have done by apologizing and restituting. In expiation theory, victims of cybercrime, cybercriminals and the criminal justice system finds a way to restore or make amends for the harm resulting from the offense. It therefore recommends expiation theory promote the process of helping and repairing the harm caused by cybercrime and facilitates community reconciliation