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The Impact Of Social Media In Crime

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Social media might entertain you, help you stay connected or even advertise for you but has it ever made you commit homicide? This seemed to be the case when a twelve-year-old girl crawled out of the woods after being stabbed nineteen times by her best friends. When confronted with these allegations the two girls claimed the internet made them do it. Insisting they were just trying to impress a slender man meme that had been floating around social media. (“The Internet Made”). With such a wide age range of people using social media, I think the biggest threat posed by social media is the role it plays in crimes happening around the world. Most people connect social media only with the younger generation but a study conducted by Pew Research …show more content…
Since virtually anyone has access to social media, gaining home and school information about each other is very easy which is how almost two thirds of sex offenders obtain these details. Out of that two thirds about one fourth of these sex offenders are also using social networking sites to find out their victims’ location at any certain time. Due to this information being easily obtainable there has been a three-hundred percent increase in the number of social media related sexual assault cases. (“Social Media Statistics”). Social media is making it almost effortless for harmful offenders to gain access to the information they need …show more content…
However, this claim is weak even though it is correct, crime has been an occurring problem way before social media, that does not mean social media is not playing a part in a new generation of crime. The publisher for East Centerville Neighbors Magazine, who specializes in social media and his community, Jonathan Eisele claims, burglars look to Facebook to find their next victims over thirty percent of the time. This is because the burglars are targeting houses based on who is posting information about being on vacation or out of the house. (“Social Media, Crime”). Social media plants the idea of always having to update your followers on what you are doing but by giving such personal information, you could just be setting yourself up to be taken advantage of. Since social media invites and encourages the posting of this personal information it is aiding in all of the crimes that

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