Legal Professionals' Perspectives on the Challenges of Cybercrime Legislation Enforcement

Abstract

This study aims to explore the perspectives of legal professionals on the enforcement challenges of cybercrime legislation. It seeks to identify the key challenges within the legal framework, operational enforcement, and strategic policy-making that hinder the effective combat of cybercrime. Employing a qualitative research design, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 legal professionals, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and legal scholars. The participant selection was based on purposive sampling to cover a broad range of insights into the enforcement of cybercrime legislation. Data collection adhered to the principle of theoretical saturation, ensuring a comprehensive exploration of the subject matter. Thematic analysis was utilized to identify patterns and themes within the data. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: Legal Framework Challenges, Operational Enforcement Challenges, and Strategic and Policy Challenges. Within these themes, several categories were identified, including the ambiguity of laws, jurisdictional issues, technological evolution, resource constraints, digital evidence management, cybercrime reporting and detection, interagency cooperation, prevention and awareness, legal professionals’ preparedness, policy development and implementation, stakeholder engagement, and future-proofing legislation. Each category was further broken down into specific concepts highlighting the multifaceted challenges in cybercrime legislation enforcement. The study reveals that legal professionals face significant hurdles in the enforcement of cybercrime legislation, stemming from legal ambiguities, operational limitations, and strategic gaps in policy-making. Effective enforcement requires addressing these challenges through clearer legal definitions, enhanced interagency cooperation, increased resources for digital evidence management, and forward-looking policy development. By addressing these issues, there is potential to significantly improve the effectiveness of cybercrime legislation enforcement.