Crime Incidents Research Articles

Analyzing Online Sexual Grooming of Minors and the Case of the Albanian Criminal Framework

Out of all of the digital sex crimes that have emerged during the revolution that is happening to technology, sexual grooming of minors, is one of the most problematic and unaddressed criminal phenomena. Sexual grooming of minors has moved from the offline realm to the online realm, becoming a tangible concern to all of the children who surf the Internet daily. Today, pervasive internet connectivity has propelled cybercrime to the forefront of law enforcement concerns globally. Particularly, social media platforms have become the favored and easily accessible tools for perpetrators, amplifying the incidence of digital sex crimes. This situation is exacerbated by the inherent dangers of online sexual grooming, which serves as a precursor to child sexual abuse. While not always an obligatory step preceding such abuse, the distinct characteristics of online sexual grooming underscore its heightened concern and complexity. This article delves into the dynamics of the sexual grooming of children, exploring its patterns, offenders’ and victims’ typology, and relevant legal framework in juxtaposition with the analysis of the Albanian criminal framework regarding this issue. For writing this article, we have used the Desk Review approach method as well as analyzing relevant legal frameworks where necessary, among other aspects. 
 
 Received: 7 September 2023 / Accepted: 7 December 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024

Bank non-performing loans, loan charge-offs, and crime incidence

Bank non-performing loans, loan charge-offs, and crime incidence

Dysfunctional Social Systems, Experiential Traits and Sheer Wickedness: Interrogating the Vicissitudes of Criminal Violence in South Africa

The daily incidents of violent crimes are rampant in South Africa. This incident of violent attacks has placed the country in a bad light in the global ranking of violent countries. Not only has this fact not changed, but it has worsened with recent incidents occasioned by the COVID-19 lockdown. From its description as the world’s ‘murder capital’ and rape capital due to the prevalence of criminal activities, criminal violence in South Africa has grown in intensity. This paper argued that the scourge of criminal violence in South Africa is, partly, a manifestation of a dysfunctional social system that has entrenched the culture of violence as an instrument of interaction in a society characterised by individualistic instinct and consciousness. Exacerbated by the lived experiential traits imbued with wickedness, violent criminal activities have created a society living in fear of instant death and degradation. The research used an interpretivism method from several South African studies, including the culture of violence, criminal violence, and the justice system, to discuss the criminal justice system. This paper submits that a deliberate and conscientious approach, through a reformed criminal justice system as well as societal re-orientation, would be necessary to recalibrate the subconsciousness of citizens to be attuned to the appropriate social order stimulated by responsive and responsible governance structures.

The Need for Democratization of Security in Nigeria

Nigeria, the most populous nation in the African continent, though rich in culture and resources, has been plagued by various security challenges, including terrorism, ethnic and religious conflicts, armed banditry, kidnapping, and other forms of criminality. Poor governance, economic instability, and the constant incidence of communal conflicts and violent crimes have marred the nation’s reputation both locally and internationally. The inability of the government to effectively address these security threats has led to widespread fear, displacement of communities, loss of lives and livelihoods, and hindered economic growth. The populace does not feel safe and is quite wary of their future. People are becoming increasingly vocal about the lack of security and justice in Nigeria, and their exasperation often takes the form of violence and civil unrest. This state of Nigeria is a serious cause for concern as it is not only detrimental to the country’s development but can also become a potential threat to the region. It is therefore important that the current situation in Nigeria be rectified, and constructive measures need to be taken to ensure the security and well-being of its citizens. This paper seeks to explore the urgent need for the democratization of security in Nigeria to enhance accountability, ensure transparency, and empower communities in the decision-making processes related to security. It will focus on the democratization of security and the rule of law to essentially create an environment where the population feels safe and is free of violence. The paper will propose that in order to improve the security situation in Nigeria, it is imperative that there be a system of security and justice that is accountable to the Nigerian people. This must replace the current situation, which is the maintenance of security and the dispensation of justice as tools for the survival of the regime in power. This has been the case in Nigeria because historically, the instruments of the state have been used to serve the interests of a small ruling elite, rather than protect the welfare of the Nigerian people.

Empirical Research on the High Incidence of Crime of Assisting Information Network Criminal Activities in Telecommunication Fraud Cases Based on 26, 121 Judgment Documents

Empirical Research on the High Incidence of Crime of Assisting Information Network Criminal Activities in Telecommunication Fraud Cases Based on 26, 121 Judgment Documents

Ommunity Policing as a Strategy for Crime Reduction in Nigeria. (A Case Study of Yola North Local Government Area of Adamawa State)

Community policing is a symbiotic and concerted effort of the police and members of the host communities to reduce the incidence of crime and criminal activities. Nigeria, as a country, has embraced the concept of community-based policing to forestall crime and criminal activities since the return of democracy in 1999. This research critically scrutinizes the ideology and beliefs of community policing in the Nigerian context, aiming to offer solutions to the major setbacks of community policing inNigeria. A non-probability sampling technique was employed for the current study. Self-constructed questionnaires were used to acquire data. Results revealed that the community members are in constant healthy relationship with the police, but the police collaboration with the community members regarding crime control/detection is not encouraging. The effort of the police authority in crime detection and control is commendable, and the fear of crime has been declining since the initiation of community policing. Success was attributed to the constant collaboration of the police with other security agencies. The residents fully supported the concept of community policing. Still, they suggested that massive employment, funding security agencies, and organizing skill acquisition programs to engage the unemployed will greatly help in crime reduction in addition to the concept of community policing. The challenges faced by the security agencies include recruitment of unqualified personnel, insufficient crime-fighting equipment/patrol vehicles, inadequate remuneration of the security personnel, and lack of trust in the security agencies by the residents.

Crime status prediction using ensemble learning

This paper focuses on crime status prediction through an ensemble methodology applied to extensive datasets obtained from catalog.data.gov, specifically targeting Los Angeles crime incidents since 2020. The research methodology comprises meticulous data collection, rigorous preprocessing, exploratory data analysis, model selection, and comprehensive model evaluation. Initial challenges included data inaccuracies and privacy-preserving measures in location data, necessitating thorough cleaning and transformation processes. Exploratory data analysis revealed crucial insights, including the 'Status' attribute's limited correlation, crime code distributions, areawise crime counts, and temporal patterns. To address class imbalance within 'Status', the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) was applied to balance the dataset. Model evaluation highlighted the superiority of random forest models employing 10 and 20 decision trees, alongside KNN, which demonstrated consistent high accuracy, balanced precision-recall trade-offs, and notable F1 scores in crime status prediction.

A GIS-based analysis of open space and the likelihood of crime hotspot in Abuja city centre

In recent times, reported incidences of crimes in Abuja City Centre have taken a worrisome dimension with attendant socio-economic impacts including loss of lives and properties. The occurrence of some of these crimes are possible because of the presence of some open spaces around the crime locations. As cities grow, one feature that easily get altered is the open space. Some open spaces lose their original plans, others become abandoned and overgrown with bushes thus serving as hideouts for criminals. Open spaces play a major role in the development of modern cities and are usually prioritized in planning such cities. Using geospatial techniques: kernel density analysis, average nearest neighbour analysis on ArcGIS, as well as the statistical analysis of the questionnaires, this study identified and examined the characteristics of open spaces in Abuja City Centre and their likelihood of being crime hotspots. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary data used were responses from questionnaires and interviews as well as the geographic coordinates of the locations while the shapefile of the study area, road network and waterway data, all sourced from Grid3 databank constitute the secondary data. Hotspot analysis using ArcGIS 10.4.1 was carried out to identify crime hotspots. The study reveals that theft, mischief, assault, robbery and pick pocketing were the dominant types of crime occurring within Abuja City Centre especially around some open spaces accounting for 100%, 81%, 78%, 69% and 58% of the crimes respectively. The results further revealed that theft was prevalent in all the open spaces examined. Also, using average nearest neighbour analysis, this study discovered that the spatial pattern of crime in Abuja City Centre was dispersed. The study also highlights the application of geospatial techniques in crime modeling in urban centres like Abuja City Centre.

Crime hotspots and its effect on socio-economic activities using Geographical Information System (GIS) in 3 selected local government areas in northern Taraba, Nigeria

<p>This study examines crime hotspots in Northern Taraba, Taraba State, Nigeria, using GIS. The prevalence of crime has escalated in Nigeria and Taraba State, especially in the northern region, where Jalingo, the state capital, is situated. The study focused on identifying crime hotspots in Northern Taraba and assessing the socio-economic consequences associated with high crime rates in the study area. The data was acquired from the field and from the Nigerian Police Force. The findings indicate that the most prevalent offenses are theft (20.9%) and thuggery/cultism (12.9%). The study period revealed that the rates of murder (12.5%), armed robbery (10.8%), kidnapping (6.2%), rape (8%), housebreaking (11.4%), false pretense and cheating (9.4%), mischief (4.4%), and the possession of firearms (3.4%). Jalingo exhibited the highest number of criminal incidents over the past decade, with a total of 3105. Ardo-kola followed with 1285 incidents, while Yorro LGA had the lowest record with 547 incidents. The hotspot of criminal activity is mostly focused on the central regions of Jalingo, Yorro, and Ardo-kola. The vulnerabilities to crime in high-density residential neighborhoods stem from several factors, including uneven plot layouts with narrow dirt streets, the existence of marketplaces, a large population, and the lack of police divisions for reporting crimes. The impacts of crime encompassed resource depletion, hindered development, loss of life, insecurity, property destruction, social isolation, and reputational damage. A substantial percentage of participants expressed strong agreement or disagreement regarding the escalation of crime rates in the surveyed region during the past five years. The study recommends the allocation of resources towards combating criminal activities, particularly in the designated areas with high crime rates. It is also imperative for the Nigerian police to meticulously document crime cases, including the precise geographical coordinates of crime incidents, in order to facilitate hotspot research.</p>

Employability Challenges Among Residivists: A Qualitative Study

Crime is a social phenomenon in almost every country. The increasing of crime incidents every now and then could instigate recurrence of crimes. The integration of prison inmates into society after release is a challenging phase to start anew outside the iron curtain. As such, this group might tend to return to prison. Therefore, this study aims to explore recidivism among recidivists towards employability. The design of this study is narrative by using a qualitative approach and aided by a semi-structured interview protocol to facilitate the data collection process. A total of 5 recidivists from a prison around the southern zone were selected as study participants. The interviews obtained were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of the study found that there are four recidivist factors returning to prison, namely difficulty in finding a job, unwillingness to change, family and community stigma, and the relaxation of conditions for participating in the Human Rehabilitation Program (PPI). In conclusion, apart from difficulties in securing employment, there are other reasons that cause recidivism to occur. Therefore, the researcher suggests that the PPI provided by the prison to be updated in line with the needs of recidivists from physical aspects, personality, skills and integration into society so that recidivism cases could be reduced.

Committing corruption-related crimes in commercial and other organizations and ways to counter them

Relevance. The relevance of the research is due to the need to improve the measures of criminal law in connection with the multiplicity of complex issues and consequences of corruption and its criminal manifestations. Purpose. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the state of corruption in commercial and other organizations and identify ways to counter this phenomenon. Methodology. The theoretical approach, the dogmatic approach, the formal legal approach, the method of legal hermeneutics, the method of deduction should be noted among the methodological approaches used. The concept of a corruption crime was analyzed through the prism of various approaches, namely, doctrinal, legislative and departmental. Results. Clear criteria were established, which made it possible to minimize disagreements in the legal assessment of acts as corrupt. The issue of the negative impact of corruption on the public life of the state as a whole was also considered, necessitating analysis of the existing preventive anti-corruption measures. It was noted that at the moment there are positive results in filling positions in the state executive bodies in a manner that is based on meritocracy principles. A special role in counteracting corruption-related crimes is occupied by preventive educational measures among the population in relation to these crimes. An equally important aspect is the identification of the need for further implementation of the provisions of international conventions, which are effective preventive tools for abuse of po0hwer for mercenary purposes, into the current domestic legal framework. Conclusions. The practical value of the results obtained lies in providing ways to improve the effectiveness of the current anti-corruption policy and reduce the incidence of corruption-related crimes.

What’s not measured still does not get done: An empirical exploration of the police response to rogue trading incidents

This paper explores the police response given to rogue trading doorstep crime incidents. Using a mixed-methods Applied Thematic Analysis of a year’s records of the Thames Valley Police force’s crime recording database, the research draws upon police officers’ own accounts to illustrate the way the crimes are recorded and investigated. Despite rogue trader criminality meeting a number of police priorities, including protecting vulnerable victims and tackling organised crime, the findings reveal a widespread failure to identify, record, and fully investigate criminal offences. It identifies a lack of consideration of the relevant legal requirements and a failure to investigate the ‘work’ undertaken by suspects to victims’ homes. Discussing these findings within the wider framework of fraud and white-collar crime, this paper proposes that the substandard police response may result from negative organisational cultures as well as a lack of training or familiarity with this crime type.

Geo-Quantitative Analysis of Violent Crime Intervention Strategies in Kaduna State, Nigeria

The complexities and consequences of violent crimes require a robust and effective approach to achieve a sustainable reduction of violence in our society. This paper, therefore, presents an avenue to provide the geo-quantitative analysis of violent occurrences in Kaduna State of Nigeria to determine the pragmatic interventionist strategies for managing violent crime incidence among the people of the study area. Geo-quantitative analysis entails transforming numerical data about criminal activities into a map of proportional circles to depict the distribution pattern of criminal activities and using scree plots and factor loading to show higher-order intervention measures for managing violent crimes. Five Local Government Areas (LGAs) with relatively high levels of violent incidence were purposively selected while snowball sampling method was used to administer questionnaires to 384 respondents. From the findings, the spatial distribution of violent crimes revealed that Birni-Gwari and Kachia LGAs accounted for the highest incidence of kidnapping and village raids respectively while Kajuru LGA is known for the highest cases of cattle rustling and armed robbery. The critical interventions in managing violent crimes are reconciliation efforts to restore order and normalcy, negotiation between aggrieved parties, and adoption of a traditional conflict resolution system with a rotated factor matrix of 0.828, 0.581, and 0.544 respectively. Furthermore, the strongest positive correlation exists between good government policies and equity with fairness in representation and establishment of developmental projects (r = 0.524, and p ˂ 0.001). Therefore, the study recommended establishing conflict mediation centers across the communities. Similarly, it is essential to have a good governance system that will give people their fair share of national resources and adequate policing of communities that could guarantee the reduction of violent incidents to the barest minimum.

Design of a real-time crime monitoring system using deep learning techniques

Criminal Activities and Crime Monitoring System has long been a research topic. In this paper, we propose an effective Crime Monitoring System (CMS) that can detect a crime in real-time using a camera surveillance system and notify the appropriate law enforcement officer. The CMS was proposed to counterbalance human weaknesses such as inattention, slow reaction, and slacking, for example, in detecting crimes. The proposed CMS detects crime scenes by combining the mechanisms and functionalities of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras with various deep-learning methods and image-processing techniques. The CMS operates in three stages: weapon detection, violence detection, and face recognition. We used transfer learning models to detect weapons, and violence and used a face recognition algorithm to recognize faces. More specifically, to detect weapons YOLOv5, and MobileNetv2 to detect violence and used face recognition algorithms to recognize faces. The image dataset is used in CMS, while the video dataset is used to train the MobileNet-based violence detection model. In this case, frame-by-frame images extracted from video files were used to train the model. All of the models performed admirably. The weapon detection model detected four different weapon classes with greater than 80% accuracy. The violence detection model is also 95% accurate. The face recognition model had a 97% accuracy rate in detecting faces. The CMS's combined model was tested in a variety of real-world scenarios, and its performance was found to be outstanding. It was able to detect crime incidents and generate timely alarms, demonstrating its effectiveness in providing security and safety.

The Psychological Externalities of Investing: Evidence from Stock Returns and Crime

Abstract This paper investigates the psychological effects from stock market returns. Using an FBI database of over 55 million daily reported crime incidents across the United States, crime is proposed as a measure of psychological well-being. The evidence suggests that stock returns affect the well-being of not only investors but also noninvestors. Specifically, a contemporaneous negative (positive) relationship between daily stock market returns and violent crime rates is found for investors (noninvestors). A similar relationship is also found between local earnings surprises and violent crime. The contrasting relationships for investors and noninvestors suggests that relative wealth may influence well-being.

Understanding the Patterns of Hate Incidents and Reporting Attitudes at a UK University

Widening participation, through diversity and inclusion, has become a major goal to achieve in UK Higher Education, with the potential of the most able, rather than simply the socially advantaged, attending university. Addressing challenges of racism and religiously motivated hate incidents in universities is important if we are to provide an educational environment in which all can feel safe to learn. The current study is a survey investigation and one of the very largest of its kind in the UK. The focus is on the extent of hate crime incidents and patterns of reporting the incidents by students and staff at a university in the North East of England. All staff and students were invited to take part in the anonymous survey, generating a sample of 2,265 respondents. Of those who responded, 27% indicated that they had experienced a hate incident, and only 20% of those who had experienced an incident also reported it. The survey results, counterintuitively, and for some no doubt controversially, showed relatively small differences in the patterns of experiencing hate incidents motivated by race or religion across different subgroups in the sample. Students and staff with disabilities were the group most likely to report experiencing hate crime, both within and outside the university. The findings have research and policy implications. There is a need for establishing clear institutional policies on reporting pathways and procedures, maintaining an effective system for information, help, support, and advice.

A MANUTENÇÃO DO WELFARE STATE COMO MECANISMO DE COMBATE À CRIMINALIDADE ECONÔMICA

The core of this work is to address the origins of the Welfare State, albeit succinctly, its crisis and whether there is any connection between the crisis and the increase in economic crime in the countries. We observe the structuring of the Welfare State at the beginning of the 20th century and took place in the leading countries of European capitalism as a result of the growing working mass. As it could not be otherwise, the social framework of the social policies developed at that time were predominantly of a social security nature and those resulting from accidents at work, taking advantage, above all, of the increase in trade union organizations in their greatest concentration in countries such as England, France and Germany. Currently in the context of globalization, the welfare state encounters a series of difficulties and the need to recalibrate itself. What we try to demonstrate is that there is a relationship between countries that have not abandoned the roots of their “social heart” and countries that today appear to have the lowest rates of economic crime, according to studies by international organizations. In other words, there is a relationship between the maintenance – recalibrated – of public policies with a lower incidence of financial crimes, the reasons range from reducing levels of social inequality, improving purchasing power, but mainly promoting the notion of social integration, as demonstrated using applied management in Scandinavia as the study premise.

Overdose Prevention Centers, Crime, and Disorder in New York City

The first government-sanctioned overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in the US opened in New York City (NYC) in November 2021 amid concerns that they may increase crime and disorder, representing a significant political challenge to OPCs. To identify whether opening the first 2 government-sanctioned OPCs in the US was associated with changes in crime and disorder. In this cohort study, difference-in-differences Poisson regression models were used to compare crime, residents' requests for assistance for emergencies and nuisance complaints, and police enforcement in the vicinity of NYC's 2 OPCs with those around 17 other syringe service programs that did not offer overdose prevention services from January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2022. Changes in the volume of crimes reported by the public or observed by police; arrests for drug possession and weapons; 911 calls and 311 calls regarding crime, public nuisances, and medical events; and summonses issued by police for criminal infractions in both the immediate vicinity of the sites (ie, a hexagonal area spanning about 6 city blocks) and their wider neighborhoods (ie, a tesselated 3-hexagon array spanning about 18 city blocks). No significant changes were detected in violent crimes or property crimes recorded by police, 911 calls for crime or medical incidents, or 311 calls regarding drug use or unsanitary conditions observed in the vicinity of the OPCs. There was a significant decline in low-level drug enforcement, as reflected by a reduction in arrests for drug possession near the OPCs of 82.7% (95% CI, -89.9% to -70.4%) and a reduction in their broader neighborhoods of 74.5% (95% CI, -87.0% to -50.0%). Significant declines in criminal court summonses issued in the immediate vicinity by 87.9% (95% CI, -91.9% to -81.9%) and in the neighborhoods around the OPCs by 59.7% (95% CI, -73.8% to -38.0%) were observed. Reductions in enforcement were consistent with the city government's support for the 2 OPCs, which may have resulted in a desire not to deter clients from using the sites by fear of arrest for drug possession. In this difference-in-differences cohort study, the first 2 government-sanctioned OPCs in the US were not associated with significant changes in measures of crime or disorder. These observations suggest the expansion of OPCs can be managed without negative crime or disorder outcomes.

Swarm Intelligence Response Methods Based on Urban Crime Event Prediction

Cities attract a large number of inhabitants due to their more advanced industrial and commercial sectors and more abundant and convenient living conditions. According to statistics, more than half of the world’s population resides in urban areas, contributing to the prosperity of cities. However, it also brings more crime risks to the city. Crime prediction based on spatiotemporal data, along with the implementation of multiple unmanned drone patrols and responses, can effectively reduce a city’s crime rate. This paper utilizes machine learning and data mining techniques, predicts crime incidents in small geographic areas with short timeframes, and proposes a random forest algorithm based on oversampling, which outperforms other prediction algorithms in terms of performance. The research results indicate that the random forest algorithm based on oversampling can effectively predict crimes with an accuracy rate of up to 95%, and an AUC value close to 0.99. Based on the crime prediction results, this paper proposes a multi-drone patrol response strategy to patrol and respond to predicted high-crime areas, which is based on target clustering and combined genetic algorithms. This strategy may help with the pre-warning patrol planning within an hourly range. This paper aims to combine crime event predictions with crowd-sourced cruise responses to proactively identify potential crimes, providing an effective solution to reduce urban crime rates.

Criminological Review of Mugging Crime Cases

Crime is a complex phenomenon that can be understood from various different angles. That's why in everyday life we can catch comments about crime incidents that are different from each other. In our experience it turns out that it is not easy to understand crime itself. Efforts to understand this crime have actually been thought up centuries ago by famous scientists. Plato, for example, stated that gold was the source of human evil. Aristotle said that poverty gives rise to crime and rebellion. Great crimes are not committed to obtain what is necessary for life, but for luxury. Criminology is a branch of science that emerged in the 19th century, which is essentially a science that studies the causes and causes of crime. In another sense, seen from a criminological perspective, crime is any specific act or deed whose action is approved by society to be interpreted as a crime. This means that every crime does not have to be formulated first in a criminal law regulation. So every act that is anti-social, detrimental and annoying to society, can be said to be a crime in criminological terms. In this modern era, human growth and development seems to know no boundaries of space and time because it is supported by the rapid flow of information and knowledge of technology. New discoveries in the field of science and technology have a direct influence on human outlook on life which can ultimately change the human outlook on life.