Identifying Identity Theft
| Date | 01 December 2014 |
| Published date | 01 December 2014 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018314557418 |
| Subject Matter | Opinion |
Opinion
Identifying Identity Theft
David Kirk
Partner, McGuireWoods LLP, UK
In April 2009 I was invited to address the subject of identity theft at a United Nations Commission on
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice meeting in Vienna. The subject cropped up again this year at the
32nd International Symposium on Economic Crime
1
at Jesus College Cambridge in early September. In
Vienna, I was afforded a five-minute slot to say all I know about identity theft. This gave me just enough
time to say that there is a lot of identity theft out there, and it is very difficult to do anything about it. The
assembled nations nodded sagely as the simultaneous translation filtered through their headphones, and
carried on consulting their Blackberrys. At Cambridge, a more generous allowance of 10 minutes
allowed slightly more opportunity for me to expatiate on an old and intractable problem.
The UN Handbook on Identity-related Crime,
2
which was the product of various meetings and sym-
posia over several years, runs to a mere 337 pages, of which the first 50-odd pages discuss ‘Legal
Approaches to Criminalise Identity Theft’.
3
The devotion of so much text to one sub-species of a crim-
inal dishonesty offence on its own suggests that the issues involved are very complex, and solutions will
be hard to find. The chapter contains a number of definitions of identity theft, including:
‘Identity Theft occurs when one person obtains data or documents belonging to another—the
victim—and then passes himself off as the victim’.
4
‘Identity-related crime concerns all punishable activities that have identity as a target or a prin-
cipal tool’.
5
‘Identity ‘‘theft’’ is fraud or another unlawful activity where the identity of an existing person is
used as a target or principal tool without that person’s consent’.
6
And so on, as if the attempt to pin down what identity theft is will assist us to manage its
consequences.
1. This year’s programme was run under the general title of: ‘Information—Shield, Sword and Achilles Heel in the Fight against
Economic Crime?’.
2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Handbook on Identity-related Crime (United Nations: New York, April 2011),
available at http://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNCAC/Publications/Handbook_on_ID_Crime/10-57802_ebooke.pdf,
accessed 3 October 2014.
3. Marco Gerke, University of Cologne, Germany.
4. N. Mitchison, M. Wilikens, L. Breitenbach, R. Urry and S. Portesi, Identity Theft: A Discussion Paper, EUR 21098 EN
(European Commission: 2004).
5. B.-J. Koops and R. Leenes, ‘Identity Theft and/or Identity-related Crime’ (2006) 30 Datenschutz und Datensicherheit 553.
6. Ibid.
Corresponding author:
David Kirk, 10 Raveley Street, London, NW5 2HU.
Email: d.kirk3@btinternet.com
The Journal of Criminal Law
2014, Vol. 78(6) 448–450
ªThe Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018314557418
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