Juvenile Victimization in Identity Theft
Introduction
Identity theft is continuously growing crime, and over the past several
years we have seen a rise in the victimization of juveniles in the
horrendous crime. Three important terms which are addressed in this
research (that are important to know and understand) are identity theft,
juvenile, and victimization. According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, identity theft is defined as “the unauthorized use or
attempted use of existing accounts, or unauthorized use or attempted use
of personal information to open a new account or for other fraudulent
purposes (Harrell, 2013).” Juvenile refers to children, typically
persons under the age of 18. Victimization means to make victim of
someone or to harm or commit a crime against someone. It is important to
understand these terms to understand the full purpose of the following
research of juvenile victimization in identity theft (Woods, 2014).
Problem Statement
According to news reports and recent studies, children are at higher
risk for identity theft than adults, infants and youth have become
greater targets to criminals in the growing trends of this catastrophic
crime. Identity theft is a crime of which is difficult for an adult to
recover from and get their life back after falling victim, much less an
infant, child, or even teenager.
In an article released through the Juvenile Justice Exchange states,
“kids under the age of 18 are 51 times more likely to become victims of
identity theft than their parents” (Duda, 2011). Juveniles make such
tempting target because of the high possibility that the theft may go
unknown for years. Just as for adults, juvenile identity theft can have
lasting effects (sometimes even greater effects).