Exploring the interactional theory: a theoretical exploration of the dark web’s impact on delinquent behaviour

Abstract

Throughout the years, modern issues of delinquent behaviour have evolved and shifted from the advancements of technology and the development of the virtual world. Despite the possibility for this connection, research has exclusively concentrated on the disruption of product flow. This study looks to explore the development and significance of delinquent behaviour within the dark web. Using Thornberry’s (1987) Interactional theory, the study explores how the dark web manifested as a marketplace, illegal tool-kit, and virtual community impacts delinquent behaviour. The study conducts an exploratory case study on the illicit Whitehouse market to explore while the interactional theory is a useful theoretical approach that can account for the dark web as a marketplace, illegal tool-kit, and virtual community impacting delinquent behaviour, it fails to account whether or not the dark web impacts the weakening of normative social bonds to conventional society.