Application Of Legal Realism In The Criminalisation Of Computer Crimes In Malaysia And Singapore

Abstract

Legal realism is a reactionary movement against formalism in which the latter emphasises the application of legal provisions over the real problems in issue and disregards added values in the community. In contrast, realism emphasises the added-legal aspects, such as emotions, psychological values as well as the behaviour of the accused persons in arriving at a conclusion. Scarcity of past researches on the application of legal realism in the context of criminalisation of computer crimes in Malaysia and Singapore have motivated this study. While engaging in library-based legal research, this study aims to demonstrate the application of legal realism in the criminalisation of computer crimes within the ambit of Malaysia’s Computer Crimes Act 1997 and Singapore’s Computer Misuse Act 1993. Past court decisions are analysed to illustrate the criminalisation of computer crimes given legal realism. The study found that computer crimes are criminalised ‘as they are’ as opposed to the actual legal provisions ‘as to how they are imagined’ or ‘prescribed’. Hopefully, this study would shed light into the understanding of computer crimes, and how the cases are adjudged in the courts of law.