Acquisitive Crime Research Articles

The Socioeconomic Covariates of Violent and Property Crime Rates in Azerbaijan

Abstract The majority of the studies exploring the relationship between socioeconomic factors and crime levels are confined to major industrialized nations. As a post-Soviet, transitional economy with a predominantly Muslim population, Azerbaijan provides a different setting to explore how socioeconomic indicators affect police-recorded violent and property crime levels across cities and districts. This study finds a positive relationship between GRP per capita, the proportion of pupils admitted to university and population size property crime levels. The relationship was linear in all cases. The geographical units with more social benefit (pensions, disability, and family care) recipients had lower acquisitive crime levels, though the significance was marginal. The higher the number of targeted social assistance recipients for poverty alleviation is, the higher the rate of violent crime is, which differs from the findings of similar previous studies. Overall, socioeconomic predictors were significantly better in explaining variations for offences against the property (r=.481) than violent crimes (r=.073). These findings suggest that different crime types are better explained by different economic indicators in the Azerbaijani context. Furthermore, the study shows that most of the covariates function in ways which are observed in the societies covered by the literature.

Could social media reflect acquisitive crime patterns in London?

Embraced within the framework of crime opportunities integrated with Social Disorganization theory and Broken Windows theory, this paper intends to explore the patterns of four types of acquisitive crimes, using social media data, i.e., Twitter, Foursquare and cross-sectional data acquired through text analysis technique. With Greater London as the study area, models like negative binominal regression (NBR) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) are performed to illustrate the aggregated relationships between acquisitive crimes and crime opportunities at London-wide and sub-regional MSOAs levels respectively. The results work towards to hypotheses that: the tweets sentiment could reflect property-related crime rates positively in light of Broken Windows Theory; more tweets with negative sentiment may incur increases in acquisitive crimes. It contributed to existing studies in (1) providing empirical evidence for integrating these three theories; (2) complementing current research on local discrepancies of acquisitive crimes by utilising both GWR and NBR models; (3) challenging the traditional stereotypes about racial disparities with the finding that ethnic heterogeneity and instrumental crimes have counterintuitive association, especially taking education factor into consideration; (4) implicating some localised acquisitive crime prevention strategies to policy makers in light of the reality that the relationship between local variations and different crime types may vary by place.

Longitudinal variations in availability and disposability of specific makes and models of hot products associated with variations in corresponding stealing counts

ABSTRACT Consistent with the crime drop experienced in many ‘Western’ market-based countries since the early 1990s, burglary and other theft offences in Western Australia have declined dramatically over the past two decades. To date, the most parsimonious explanation for these sustained international declines has focused on the changing nature of risk and effort involved with acquisitive crime resulting from increased security. This article presents data that supports the argument for a parallel and compatible factor that has reduced these crimes: the reduction in reward from property crime. It is argued that variations in availability and disposability of hot products can account for longitudinal variations in stealing counts of specific goods. To test this hypothesis, a series of correlational and cross-sectional regression analyses are conducted on the declining availability of cash and changing desirability of specific makes and models of gaming consoles with their corresponding stealing counts between 2007 and 2019 in Western Australia. The findings demonstrate significant product-specific associations between the availability (cash) and disposability (consoles) with their corresponding stealing counts. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

Homicide, Acquisitive Crime, and Inflation: A City-Level Longitudinal Analysis

Building on research by Rosenfeld et al., citylevel random coefficients panel models reveal a significant association between inflation and homicide rates that is only partially mediated by acquisitive crime. Inflation is more strongly associated with homicide rates in more disadvantaged cities. The impact of inflation on public safety should be considered when setting and evaluating economic policy. Future research should address the mechanisms, in addition to acquisitive crime, that link homicide and inflation.

Exploring the Impact of Anti-Social Behaviour, Drug-Related Crime and County Lines on Local Communities: A Qualitative Inquiry

This qualitative research project explores the impact of Drug-Related Crime, Anti-Social Behaviour, and County Lines on local communities. The study aimed to elicit perceptions, views and insight of this impact from local community members. Data for the inquiry was collected by conducting semi-structured qualitative interviews with key informants chosen from local communities. The findings show that Anti-Social Behaviour has had a significant impact on the local communities chosen for the inquiry. In contrast the findings were indicative that the impact of Drug -Related Crime to be much less significant. Although open drug dealing had been a cause for concern reports of acquisitive crime normally associated with “problematic drug use” (Gordon et al., 2007) were extremely low. Evidence in the findings suggest that the overall impact of County Lines within the communities has led to certain amount of resentment and even hostility from local gangs. Included in the conclusion are suggestions for future exploration and research based on the findings of this inquiry.

Factors Associated with Intention and Attempt to Quit: A Study among Current Smokers in a Rural Community of West Bengal.

Context:Tobacco smoking is one of the preventable causes of death. Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2 report showed that 19% Indian males were current smokers. It is important to find out factors which help smokers on smoking cessation, ultimately to prevent of lung and other morbidities. There are few community-based studies on intention and attempt to quit smoking in rural area.Aims:The present study aimed to determine the factors associated with intention and attempt to quit smoking among current smokers.Settings and Design:A cross-sectional study was conducted from June to September 2019 among 198 male daily smokers residing in the rural field practice area of AllH and PH, Kolkata.Subjects and Methods:After cluster sampling, data were collected by predesigned schedule by the face-to-face interview.Results:151 (76.3%) study subjects intended to quit smoking. 63 (31.8%) study subjects attempted to quit in last 1 year. Thirty-one (47.5%) showed high-to-medium nicotine dependence. There was a significant association of intention to quit with agriculture as occupation (acquisitive crime [AOR]-2.17, confidence interval [CI]-1.01–4.63), low nicotine dependence (AOR-2.98, CI-1.43–6.21), doctor's advice (AOR = 2.84, CI-1.27–6.33), and family pressure (AOR = 2.16, CI-1.07–4.38). Attempt to quit was significantly associated with low nicotine dependence (AOR = 5.85, CI-2.85–12.00), family pressure (AOR = 2.94, CI-1.47–5.91).Conclusion:Along with counseling to reduce nicotine dependence, comprehensive approach both from family members as well as health care providers, is vital to escalate the quitting behaviour in smoking habit.

Dactylographic and dermatoglyphic characteristic of papillary fingerprint ridge patterns of serial killers who committed acquisitive crime

In order to verify the conclusions made by other scholars that based on the traces of papillary ridges of fingers and hands using dermatoglyphic methods in forensics allow composing portrait of a suspect, the authors of the articled analyzed the dactylographic and dermatoglyphic characteristics contained in the accurate dactylographic profiles of the known serial killers who committed acquisitive crimes. Choice of this motive is explained by the fact that both males and females were driven by it. The subject of this research is the types of papillary fingerprint ridges, dactylographic formulas, pattern of ridges, presence or absence of symmetry of the same type of ridge on the same fingers of both hands, and delta index. Research methodology is based on the analysis of modern scientific provisions of dactyloscopy and dermatoglyphics. Considerable attention is given to the use of private scientific methods of cognition: description, comparison of characteristics of papillary fingerprint ridge patterns of serial killers. The application of these methods of cognition allowed concluding on the absence of undisputed evidence of papillary fingerprint ridge patterns of criminal nature, namely an increase in the number of arched ridges in calculating the frequency of ridges on separate fingers. This article is first to analyze not only the accumulated unique empirical material, but also presents the images for getting a fuller representation on the known serial criminals.

Pathways between types of crime and criminal social identity: A network approach

Criminal social identity (CSI) is a factor for criminal behavior. CSI should therefore be a target of interventive strategies aiming to reduce the risk of re-offending. To date, there is limited knowledge on how CSI is expressed among individuals with different criminal histories, undermining the efforts to develop and target appropriate rehabilitative strategies. In the present investigation, network analysis was applied to model the pattern of relationships between different crime types and CSI. In total, eight networks were estimated among prisoners from the USA (n = 772), UK (n = 638), and Poland (n = 1591).Results show different pathways between CSI scores and crime types across samples. CSI formed positive links with acquisitive crime among U.S. and Polish male prisoners. Homicide formed negative associations with CSI among male prisoners from the USA and Poland as well as U.S. female prisoners. Crimes for which an individual is likely to face social stigmatization were positively associated with CSI in U.S. females and UK males. It is anticipated that from these results, we will be able to build a better understanding of the structural relationships between different types of criminal activity and CSI, subsequently leading to more effective rehabilitation strategies.

Poverty and Crime: COVID and the 'New Normal'

We document changing crime trends in England and Wales in the context of the current global pandemic. During the first lockdown that span from mid-March to mid-May 2020 there was a decrease in all crime categories except Anti-social Behaviour and Drug Offences. Since lockdown was lifted most crime categories remain at lower levels, although there are important differences across the country that correlate with economic performance. Using publicly available data, we study the spatial and temporal differences in the uptake of furlough and unemployment support schemes and their correlation to crime rates. We find that those parts of the country with traditionally higher number of claimants have higher levels of crime in some categories, including in violent crimes (controlling for month, year, and area characteristics). Areas which experienced a higher loss in employment (change) now show higher anti-social behaviour rates, much higher than the national average. We identify areas most at risk, which had high claimant rates pre-pandemic and which suffered a high increase. In these areas acquisitive crimes have decreased at a much slower rate than elsewhere. We show that the large increase in claimants was more likely to take place in LSOAs with lower educational attainment on average. The high risk areas are characterised by higher Black and Asian population, a higher proportion of lone parents and worse health.

Various Approaches to Assessing the Methods of Stealing Cashless Money in the Modern Information Society

A wide spread of various illegal methods of stealing cashless funds using modern information technologies makes it necessary to search for more advanced approaches to assessing such actions. Specialists examine different approaches to determining methods of theft in the information environment and analyze the opinions of scholars presented in the doctrine of criminal law, as well as legislative and court statutes adopted during the whole period that the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has been in force (from 1997 to 2020). The authors of the article pay special attention to the approaches of assessing the widespread methods of stealing cashless money in the theory, legislative sphere and practice. It is noted that current criminal legislation reflects a new approach to assessing theft in the information environment, developed on the basis of modern theory and practice. The authors point out that in modern criminal law theory there are three main trends in assessing the methods of stealing cashless money in the information environment. They are: criminalization of the new form of theft, new types of crimes in Ch. 21 or 28 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation; viewing this theft as a variety of traditional forms of theft and other acquisitive crimes against property; application of the existing norms of traditional crimes in Ch. 21 and 28 of the CC of the RF. The authors also note that in the period following the adoption of criminal legislation, the illegal acquisition of cashless funds in the information environment has been assessed differently: as a type of traditional theft by deceit in the form of fraud; as separate types of fraud depending on the method; as separate types of fraud depending on the method and theft. The authors conduct a detailed analysis of the contents of new criminal law norms and the developed theoretical (court) statutes, identify their positive and negative features, and present their own understanding of the effectiveness of the new approach to assessing online theft of cashless money incorporated in current criminal legislation.

Различия в субъективных представлениях бывших сотрудников правоохранительных органов, осуждённых за совершение корыстных и коррупционных преступлений

The article discusses theoretical basis for study of representations of persons who have committed lucrative crimes. The role of representations in regulation of social behavior is described, theoretical information and facts confirming the role of representations in regulation of criminal behavior are given. Opinions are generalised as to the specifics of the perceptions of persons who have committed mercenary crimes and corruption. Theories of «planned behavior» and «criminal thinking» in relation to the assessment of criminal perceptions are discussed. Hypotheses of empirical study of representations are defined, its procedure, methodology and methods applied are described. The sample of the survey comprises 211 former law enforcement officers convicted of lucrative and corruption crimes. The results are given taking into account the statistical assessment of differences in perceptions of impunity, victim depreciation and hedonistic attitudes. The results support the hypothesis that there are differences in perceptions between the groups to be compared, as well as differences in the relationship of these perceptions among former law enforcement officers. It is assumed that the measured perceptions influence the decision to commit a lucrative crime by encouraging a belief in impunity and victim acceptance. The conclusion is that it is promising to study perceptions as an indicator of the risk of acquisitive crime.

Nigerian piracy: Articulating business models using crime script analysis

A violent manifestation producing many harms, Nigerian piracy has spread throughout the Gulf of Guinea. Exploring an understudied criminological phenomenon, this article draws on crime script analysis to articulate detailed business models for each of the three primary types of piracy identified in the waters of Nigeria (robberies, kidnappings for ransom and ship/cargo seizures) as well as attempted boardings/unspecified attacks. To do so, this research employed a content analysis of more than 400 piracy incident reports compiled from multiple data sources and supplemented by insights from existing research and semi-structured interviews with piracy experts. This study contributes to a more in-depth and nuanced understanding of Nigerian piracy and further tests the utility of crime script analysis to investigate atypical acquisitive crimes and non-traditional security threats. More importantly, the formulation of the business models is the first step in conducting a systematic assessment of the harms of Nigerian piracy, the necessary foundation for completing a full policy analysis.

Хищения с использованием электронных платежных систем (региональная судебно-следственная практика)

The advent of the electronic currency and the effecting of electronic payments has caused new forms of thefts and types of acquisitive crimes. The judicial investigative practice of criminal cases of embezzlement committed using bank cards and other types of electronic payments has encountered problems with the qualification of such acts. The author identifies the most common enforcement problemsand their causesby a retrospective study of judicial practice, the changing norms of the criminal law. At the same time, a ten-year period of work of the judicial investigating authorities was studied. On the basis of traditional general scientific methods of cognition, as a result of a system-legal analysis of the considered set of specific situations, the author gives an author's view of the complex of causes that cause a lack of uniformity in judicial investigative practice. Using the hermeneutic approach, the author paid special attention to the application by the courts of the interpretation of the criminal law by the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in different years. In conclusion, ways of resolving contentious issues of qualification of thefts and fraud in the field of electronic means of payment are proposed. It has been ascertained that high-quality and uniform law enforcement can provide additional clarification on the delimitation of related and competing theft from the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. It is concluded that in general, the current concept of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation does not contain contradictions with the novels of the criminal law, but can be improved. The rationale and edition of possible additions to the relevant decision of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation are given.

The Problem of Unconscious Aggressiveness of Criminals in the Conditions of Postmodern Society Development

In this paper, attention has been paid to the study of the individual psychological and criminological features of acquisitive and violent criminals. The purpose of the research is to find out the peculiarities of unconscious aggression of non-chronic, chronic and extreme-chronic acquisitive and violent criminals. The non-chronic type included twice sentenced criminals; the chronic type – criminals who had served their prison term 3-5 times; extreme-chronic type – those who had 6 or more convictions. The research tool used was the test “Hands” by Wagner, designed to diagnose the indicators of personality aggression. The study sample included male acquisitive and violent criminals with a total of 294 people who were sentenced to imprisonment for unlawful acts. The participants of the study were divided into groups of corresponding criminal orientation and a certain type of crime reproducibility. The group of acquisitive criminals comprised 143 people, 29 of them were non-chronic, 86 – chronic, 28 – extreme-chronic. The group of violent criminals included 151 people, 29 of who were non-chronic, 93 – chronic, 29 – extreme-chronic. The results of the study indicated a combination of aggressive and directive indicators of the identity of criminals that proved an increased probability of aggressive behavior, the lack of desire to take into account the opinion, feelings, rights, and intentions of others. The indicators obtained can promote the development of effective methods of rehabilitating those who serve the prison term for acquisitive and violent crimes.

Modelling taste heterogeneity regarding offence location choices

One of the central topics in crime research, and one in which discrete choice modelling has been relatively recently introduced, is the study of where offenders choose to commit crime. Since the introduction of this approach in 2003, it has become relatively popular and used in over 25 published studies covering a range of crime types and study areas. However, in most of these analyses the conditional logit has been used which assumes offenders are homogenous in their offence location preferences. This is despite various research finding offenders vary in their decision-making criteria. As such, while three recent studies (Townsley et al., 2016; Frith et al., 2017; Long et al., 2018) used the mixed logit and found some evidence of preference heterogeneity between offenders, there are still open questions regarding its nature. To this end, this study uses the latent class (and mixed and conditional logit) to examine the offence location choices of serious acquisitive crime offenders in York (UK). In particular, to understand how the spatial preferences differ between offenders and if there are any observable sources. Like the previous studies, this analysis identifies the presence of preference heterogeneity. This study also finds that the latent class and mixed logit equally fit the data though there are some differences in the results. These findings and other factors therefore raise questions for future crime location choice research regarding the appropriate model for these types of analyses and the true underlying nature of offender preferences.

The Back-Door Governance of Crime: Confiscating Criminal Assets in the UK

The policy and practice of confiscating criminal assets to control crime and recover illicit wealth has come to occupy a central position in national and international policing and security agendas. However, this practice has raised many questions about agencies’ abilities to measure success and also the social impacts of asset confiscation. This article contributes to the crime control debates by exploring contemporary literature and drawing upon a subset of data from the Joint Asset Recovery Database (JARD). The first part of the article briefly outlines the key legislative provisions of asset recovery in the UK. The second part explores what the JARD data tells us about the performance of the confiscation of proceeds of crime approach and it will argue that seizing illicit wealth has not been the main priority for government. It will argue instead that the proceeds of crime approach, originally designed to target the most serious and organised crime, has effectively become a disciplining and symbolic tool against relatively lower level acquisitive crimes. It concludes that while technical measures of impact remain inconclusive, it is more important to subject the ideological underpinnings of the proceeds of crime law to critical scrutiny.

Job displacement and crime: Evidence from Norwegian register data

We estimate the job displacement effect on criminal behavior for young adult Norwegian men separated from their plant of employment during a mass layoff. Displaced workers experience a 20 percent increase in criminal charge rates in the year of displacement, with effects declining thereafter. Effects are particularly large for property crimes, consistent with the idea that displaced workers turn to acquisitive crimes to replace lost earnings. However, effects are also sizable for violent and alcohol/drug-related crimes, indicating other mechanisms at work. We find strong evidence that displacement increases crime effects through the increased availability of time, and supportive evidence that psychological factors (mental distress, self-control) also play a role.

An evaluation of the retrospective accounts of offenders as a means to promote desistance amongst acquisitive offenders

There are various considerations that former offenders give for ceasing to commit (acquisitive) offenses. These can involve references to more mature decision-making, reformed ways of regarding the victim and realizations that risks of offending outweigh the rewards. This study draws upon 20 semistructured and visually based qualitative interviews with probationers to examine the role that these factors played in engendering desistance from acts of acquisitive crime. The outcome of these findings and how they could facilitate the supervision of probationers is critically discussed.

Vehicle Crime, CPTED, and Offending under the Influence: A Qualitative Investigation of Offender Perceptions

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) can impact upon where an offender decides to commit an offence. This is particularly the case for street-level acquisitive crime. There has been little coverage, within research on crime and offending, of how aspects of the built environment might be interpreted by a motivated offender who has a dependency on either illicit drugs, alcohol or both of these. This study draws on qualitative interviews with twenty individuals who have received criminal convictions for vehicle crime offences. Within these offender interviews, images, of repeatedly victimised areas, were examined in order to gauge in what capacity various locations were vulnerable to vehicle crime. Through this examination, pertinent points were made by participants about how and why the appeal of locations could differ for offenders who suffer from substance addiction and offenders who do not. The key findings of this research demonstrate that vehicle crime offenders who are not dependent on drugs or alcohol, may be more risk-averse than those who are. Moreover, both types of offender might become part of organised crime networks, but these findings make an initial suggestion that those who offend under the influence are more vulnerable to coercion by a criminal hierarchy.

Gender, sexual danger and the everyday management of risks: the social control of young females

Women fear crime more than men (Cops and Pleysier, 2011), have heightened awareness of everyday risks particularly of sexual and physical danger (Stanko, 1990), and they engage in more constrained behaviours than men (Rader et al, 2007; Tomsich et al, 2011). Little research had examined the adoption of such risk management strategies and the impact of gender (May et al, 2010), in an English context. However, focusing on the most at risk age-group for criminal victimisation, 393 students completed an online survey, which was designed to assess whether gender affected the strategies they adopted to prevent victimisation of both acquisitive and personal crimes, on-campus, and to stay safe. The findings indicate that females are more likely to adopt risk-management strategies to prevent personal sexual attack during the day and after dark, compared to males. Females also adopt additional strategies after dark to stay safe. The implications of the findings to convey accurate messages about risks of victimisation are discussed.