Does internet use trigger sex crime? We use Norwegian registry data on crime
and internet adoption to shed light on this question. A public program with
limited funding rolled out broadband access points in 2000–2008, and provides
plausibly exogenous variation in internet use. Our 2SLS estimates suggest that
internet usage is associated with a substantial increase in reported incidences
of rape and other sex crimes. We present a conceptual framework that highlights
three mechanisms for how internet use may affect reported sex crime,
namely a reporting effect, a matching effect on potential offenders and victims,
and a direct effect on crime propensity. Our results indicate that the direct
effect dominates, plausibly as a result of increased consumption of pornography