Informal Digital Justice: Functions and Consequences in the Digital Society
Keywords:
Informal digital justice, digital criminology, transparency, victim supportAbstract
Informal digital justice, as an emerging model in digital criminology, operates beyond the formal judicial system and leverages the capacities of media platforms to advance social justice. Using a descriptive–analytical method and relying on library-based sources, this study examines the functions and consequences of this phenomenon and proposes a framework for balancing public participation with individual rights. The findings indicate that user activism and online whistleblowing—particularly in the forms of online feminist justice (collective responses to gender-based violence) and viral justice (algorithmic amplification of claims-making)—enhance transparency, accelerate the pursuit of crimes, and provide effective support for victims, especially in cases of domestic violence and online sexual abuse where formal systems often act slowly. However, feminist backlash, doxxing, and the dissemination of misinformation, coupled with premature judgment, violations of the presumption of innocence, unregulated publicization of crimes, and the erosion of privacy, undermine public trust and lead to social instability. This duality demonstrates that preserving positive functions while preventing negative consequences is achievable only through the development of transparent legal frameworks, ethical oversight of platforms, and public education in digital rights—solutions that strengthen public participation while safeguarding individual rights.
Downloads
References
Amiri, A. R. (2015). Investigating the Role of Internet Chat Rooms in Committing Moral Crimes. Quarterly Journal of Intelligence and Criminal Research, 10(4).
Azimzadeh, S. (2017). Essentials of Criminology. Dorandishan.
Bjelajac, Z., & Filipovic, M. A. (2021). Specific characteristics of digital violence and digital crime. Law, Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.5937/ptp2104016B
Crockett, M. J. (2017). Moral outrage in the digital age. Nature Human Behaviour, 1(11). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0213-3
Ghazani, A. H. (2022). Publication of Cyber Falsehoods. In B. Shamlou (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cyber Behavior (1st ed.). Mizan Legal Foundation.
Gleeson, J., & Turner, B. (2019). Online Feminist Activism as Performative Consciousness-Raising: A #MeToo Case Study. In MeToo and the Politics of Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15213-0_4
Holt, T. J., & Bossler, A. M. (2016). Cybercrime in progress: Theory and prevention of technology-enabled offenses. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315775944
Holt, T. J., & Bossler, A. M. (2018). Cybercrime and Digital Forensics. Ketab Ava. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315296975
Hosseini, F., & Monfaredi Shekafti, L. (2018). Criminological Study of Women's Victimization in Cyberspace. Ketab Ava.
Jahbin, Z., & Beigizad, A. M. (2020). Cyber Criminology. Jame'eh Shenasan and Ravanshenasan Publications.
Jane, E. A. (2017). Feminist flight and fight: Digital escape, online activism and gendered violence. In Digital feminisms. Routledge.
Javidnia, J. (2022). Censorship and Filtering. In B. Shamlou (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cyber Behavior (1st ed.). Mizan Legal Foundation.
Lazer, D. M. J., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., Metzger, M. J., Nyhan, B., Pennycook, G., Rothschild, D., Schudson, M., Sloman, S. A., Sunstein, C. R., Thorson, E. A., Watts, D. J., & Zittrain, J. L. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2998
Marcum, C. D., & Higgins, G. E. (2018). Social Networking as a Criminal Tool. Mizan Legal Foundation. https://doi.org/10.1201/b16912
Najafi Abrandabadi, A. H. (2020). From Real Criminology to Virtual Criminology. In G. Picca (Ed.), Criminology. Mizan.
Powell, A. (2018). Digital Criminology. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315205786
Susskind, R. (2021). Online Justice: Technology and the Internet in Dispute Resolution. Ghanoonyar Publications.
White, R., & Haines, F. (2013). Crime and Criminology. Hawzeh and University Research Institute.
Wood, M., Rose, E., & Thompson, C. (2018). Viral justice? Online justice-seeking, intimate partner violence and affective contagion. Theoretical Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480617750507
Yousefi, A. (2022). Internet Access in Public Emergencies. In B. Shamlou (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cyber Behavior (1st ed.). Mizan Legal Foundation.
Downloads
Published
Submitted
Revised
Accepted
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 1402 Sina Najafi (Author); Amir Samavati Pirouz; Mohammad Ali Mahdavi Sabet (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
