Research Proposal Outline

  1. Introduction

In this section, I will provide a brief introduction of the research topic and proposal. The topic I have chosen is “The challenges of cybercrime in law enforcement”, with a research question: “How do jurisdictional overlaps and international legal disparities impede cybercrime investigations?”. The introduction will have a brief intro on cybercrime, with an aim to highlight the current jurisdictional challenges investigators face.

  1. Aims and Objectives

The primary goal is to understand and highlight jurisdictional challenges in cybercrime investigations. This will be done by a mixed approach research method (quantitative and qualitative), as well as analysis of current legislation, Europol/Cert data on investigation outcomes, and examples of high-profile cases. The results of the study will be important to both academics and practitioners by highlighting current gaps in jurisdictional/transnational investigation and highlighting current/existing solutions.

  1. Key literature related to the project
  • Cybercrime and Digital Forensics by Holt, T., Bossler, A. and Seigfried-Spellar, K. (2022). Cybercrime and Digital Forensics. 3rd Edition. [Insert Publisher Location]: Taylor & Francis.
  • Zeno-Zencovich, Vincenzo, Comparative Legal Systems. A Short Introduction (July 13, 2017). Roma TrE-Press - Law Department Series - volume 5 (open access) 2017.
  • Desnoyers, S. (2013). The challenges of cybercrime for international law enforcement (Order No. 1551187).
  • Judiciary UK online (court cases)
  • Gov UK (legislation, human rights etc.)
  • Home office UK (Extradition, MLAT’s etc.)
  • Other online web sources on crime prevention and the justice model
  1. Methodology, development strategy, research design

The research proposal will take on a mixed-method approach by combining:

  • Qualitative (this will include literature, web sources and known cases)
  • Quantitative (this will include stats from interviews/surveys from law enforcement and cybercrime organizations/firms, analysis of Europol/Cert data on investigation outcomes, surveys on law enforcement agency cases)
  1. Ethical considerations and risk assessment

With any law enforcement or other legal investigation, ethical considerations and case sensitivity must be considered. For example, avoiding re-identification of cyber victims. Consent and risk mitigation. In the case of gathering our own data and conducting surveys etc. consent would be a priority, as well as protecting the identities of participants (anonymity).

  1. Description of artefacts that will be created and timeline.

The proposal will be presented as a Power Point presentation, along with audio and transcript of material. For the timeline, students have been provided with a deadline for this assignment, which is Monday 7 April, 2025 11:55PM.