Cyber Crime Arrives and Prosecutors Scramble for Jurisdiction

Neon Rifts Inside Urban Legal Turmoil · May 25, 2026 · 12m

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, prosecutors confronted a novel problem: crimes committed across state and national borders through the internet, where traditional jurisdictional rules and investigative techniques proved inadequate. This episode examines how urban prosecutors adapted to prosecute early cyber criminals, analyzing the jurisdictional conflicts that arose when crimes originated in one location but caused harm in another. We reconstruct specific cases involving identity theft, credit card fraud, and hacking, examining how prosecutors determined which court had authority and how…