Crime Scenarios Research Articles

EFEITOS DAS ALTERAÇÕES RECENTES NO ESTATUTO DO DESARMAMENTO: UMA ANÁLISE DAS IMPLICAÇÕES PARA A SEGURANÇA PÚBLICA NO BRASIL

This research addresses recent changes to the Disarmament Statute in Brazil and their implications for public safety. The Disarmament Statute, established by Law No. 10.826/2003, was created to reduce the circulation of firearms in the country and reduce violence rates. However, in recent decades, significant changes in legislation have made access to weapons more flexible, sparking debates about the possible impacts of these changes on the security and crime scenario. The relevance of the research lies in the fact that gun control is a central issue for public safety, being widely discussed in various political and social contexts. Thus, the research is justified by the need to understand the possible effects of changes to the Disarmament Statute, considering the increased flexibility of access to weapons. The main objective of this research was to analyze these recent changes to the Disarmament Statute and evaluate their effects on the regulation of access to weapons and on violence and crime rates in Brazil. To achieve this objective, the methodology adopted was based on a bibliographic review and analysis of laws related to the topic. The results of this research showed that recent changes to the Disarmament Statute have the potential to significantly impact public safety in Brazil. The analysis of the legislative changes revealed that, with the relaxation of access to and possession of weapons, there is an increased risk of weapons circulating in the hands of the civilian population, which can aggravate situations of violence and crime.

Does Use of Generic Depictions or Scenarios Matter in Perceptions of Crime Seriousness? An Empirical Test

This study examined the influence of crime type and crime representation in survey design on perceptions of crime severity using one-line crime descriptions and crime vignettes. A unique feature of the study was the use of hate crime as an offence category. A sample of 917 university students completed an online questionnaire measuring perceptions of crime severity for one-line crime descriptions as well as crime scenarios based on actual court cases. Consistent with past research, the results showed that both perceptions of wrongfulness and harmfulness are strong predictors of perceived crime seriousness. Violent crimes ranked highest on measures of wrongfulness, harmfulness, and seriousness, while property crimes like break and enter tended to be ranked lowest in perceived severity. Hate crime was viewed as quite serious by respondents and was rated equivalent to high-scale fraud embezzlement in terms of severity. Comparisons between responses to one-line crime descriptions and crime scenarios revealed that scenarios elicited significantly stronger severity ratings, although hierarchical rankings for crime type remained similar. The representation of crime in academic research may affect participant responses. It is recommended that researchers consider the impact the choice of crime representation in survey tools has on measures of perceived crime severity.

Crime scenario of North-Eastern India: An assessment through GIS approach

Crime scenario of North-Eastern India: An assessment through GIS approach

Enhanced Crime Prediction with Computer Vision-Yolov4 Approach

This research paper presents the development of an artificial intelligence safety application on an HP Pavilion gaming machine, utilizing criminal footage from reputable databases like the UCF-Crime open-source dataset. The system underwent meticulous data annotation to identify five distinct classes crucial for anomaly detection: Person, Short Gun, Handgun, Knife, and Rifle. Supervised machine learning techniques were applied, focusing on monitoring human trajectories and employing deep-SORT and Euclidean distance computations to track individuals, simulating real-world crime scenarios. The AI safety model showcased outstanding performance with an average precision rate of approximately 86.43%, exceeding 90% after 2000 iterations, demonstrating versatility across all categories with notable average precision accuracies for rifles (98.90%), handguns (96.93%), and knives (97.66%). Enhancements to the Python script improved the system's ability to detect weapons sub-objects in human subjects and classify potential perpetrators as high risk, a novel aspect of this study.

Comprehensive body fluid identification and contributor assignment by combining targeted sequencing of mRNA and coding region SNPs

Forensic genetic analyses aim to retrieve as much information as possible from biological trace material recovered from crime scenes. While standard short tandem repeat (STR) profiling is essential to individualize biological traces, its significance is diminished in crime scenarios where the presence of a suspect's DNA is acknowledged by all parties. In such cases, forensic (m)RNA analysis can provide crucial contextualizing information on the source level about a trace’s composition, i.e., body fluids/tissues, and has therefore emerged as a powerful tool for modern forensic investigations. However, the question which of several suspects contributed a specific component (body fluid) to a mixed trace cannot be answered by RNA analysis using conventional methods. This individualizing information is stored within the sequence of the mRNA transcripts. Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) represents a promising alternative, offering not only higher multiplex capacity, but also the typing of individual coding region SNPs (cSNPs) to enable the assignment of contributors to mixture components, thereby reducing the risk of association fallacies. Herein, we describe the development of an extensive mRNA/cSNP panel for targeted sequencing on the IonTorrent S5 platform. Our panel comprises 30 markers for the detection of six body fluids/tissues (blood, saliva, semen, skin, vaginal and menstrual secretion), along with 70 linkage-controlled cSNPs for contributor assignment. It exhibited high reliable detection sensitivity with RNA inputs down to 0.75 ng and a conservatively calculated probability of identity of 0.03 – 6 % for individual body fluid-specific cSNP profiles. Limitations and areas for future work include RNA-related allele imbalances, inclusion of markers to correctly identify rectal mucosa and the optimization of specific markers. In summary, our new panel is intended to be a major step forward to interpret biological evidence at sub-source and source level based on cSNP attribution of a body fluid component to a suspect and victim, respectively.

일반긴장요인과 화이트칼라 범죄 발생의 상호관계 검증

The purpose of this study is verifying the impact on white-collar crime intentions through applying general strain theory, particularly by categorizing white-collar workers into subordinates, middle managers, and executives, and comparing the differences in criminal intention depends on their job levels. The intention for white-collar crime, specifically focusing on embezzlement, was suggested as The dependent variable. Also, rather than direct measurement about embezzlement, and respondents were prompted to response their behaviors and perceptions in specific situations with suggested crime scenarios The independent variables included strain factors proposed by the General Strain Theory, such as the loss of positive stimuli, failure to achieve goals, and the occurrence of negative stimuli, along with negative emotions. To achieve the goal of this research, data was collected focusing on office, business, and management workers in the metropolitan area. As a result, general strain factors did not affect to the intent for white-collar crime at the executive level. However, it was suggested that the smaller the size of the company, the more significant affect on the intention for white-collar crime. In the case of subordinate and middle management workers, both general strain factors and negative emotions affected significantly to the intention for white-collar crime. Therefore, to counteract white-collar crime, it is requested the differentiated strategies for each job levels. For small and medium-sized enterprises, controls to executives should be strengthened, and for large enterprises or conglomerates, a fair promotion system and adequate economic rewards, such as appropriate wage increasing, should be enhanced to mitigate the feelings of deprivation among lower-level employees and middle managers.

Love/Hate as lyrical sociology: Mapping the spaces of urban crime

This article considers the sociological function of television drama via the Irish television crime series Love/Hate, which aired over five seasons between 2010 and 2014 on RTÉ, Ireland’s public service broadcaster. Drawing on Andrew Abbot’s concept of ‘lyrical sociology’, it will examine how media discourse surrounding Love/Hate consistently foregrounded the connection between its fictional events and real-life crime scenarios. Media coverage of Love/Hate, as well as the content of the series itself, it will be argued, posed the problem of sympathy between audience and its violent protagonists in spatial terms, as a question of belonging or otherwise in a shared social space. In particular, the experiential quality of home as a space of belonging will be explored as a central organizing structure in the series, one which ambiguously connected the lived spaces of its domestic television audience to the highly gendered home and city spaces of Love/Hate’s story world.

Unveiling the efficacy of the feedback concealed information test in collaborative crime detection

Collaborative crime poses severe social hazards. In collaborative crime scenarios, previous studies have indicated that perpetrators’ collaborative encoding can impair the detection efficiency of P300-based complex trial protocols due to the collaborative encoding deficit. The feedback concealed information test (fCIT), a unique variation of the concealed information test, provides participants with feedback on how well they conceal information from memory. The fCIT, which has proven to be highly efficient, detects concealed information using recognition P300 along with feedback-related event-related potentials, and reflects the subject’s motivation to conceal. However, no studies have examined the fCIT’s effectiveness in identifying collaborative criminals. We propose that the fCIT’s efficiency persists in cases of collaborative crime and test this hypothesis using a sample of 48 participants. The participants in the collaborative groups were instructed to have hushed conversations about theft to simulate the collaborative crime process. Subsequently, they completed the fCIT. The findings indicate a significant decline in recognition P300′s detection efficiency when participants committed crimes collaboratively. Nevertheless, the detection efficiency of feedback P300 and feedback-related negativity remained high. This study’s outcomes illustrate the capacity of the fCIT to detect perpetrators involved in collaborative crime.

Nonverbal cues to deception: insights from a mock crime scenario in a Chinese sample.

Nonverbal behaviors could play a crucial role in detecting deception, yet existing studies on deception cues have largely centered on Western populations, predominantly university students, thus neglecting the influence of cultural and sample diversity. To address this gap, our study explored deception cues within an Asian cultural setting, utilizing a mock crime paradigm. Our sample comprised Chinese participants, including both men and women with various socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Our findings revealed that compared to truth tellers, liars exhibited heightened emotions and an increased cognitive load. Furthermore, liars showed a higher frequency of self-adaptors and a longer duration of gaze aversion. Our findings contribute to a more profound understanding of deception cues within Asian culture and have implications for practical fields such as criminal interrogation.

Integrating Environmental Forensics in Criminal Investigation: Needs and Methods

Environmental crimes are increasing day by day. There is a need to implement stringent measures to protect the environment. This paper addresses the approaches adopted by different international organizations in tackling environmental crimes, the increasing trend of environmental crimes in India, and the legal redress mechanisms followed in India against environmental wrongs. Our assessment of the global environmental crime scenario revealed that the convergence of environmental crimes with other types of crimes causes complexity in different stages of law enforcement. We recommend integrating environmental forensics into criminal investigation to address the issue and suggest ways to do so.

Detecting deceit within a predominantly true statement using two parallel assessment methods: A pilot study

Abstract In human intelligence, a verbal statement from a source is seldom 100% true or false, and not very often is the source a total liar or a truth teller. From this standing point, a simple dichotomy of a liar or a truth teller might not offer an adequate diagnostic value for the purposes of human intelligence. A more diagnostic approach would be to assess which parts of the predominantly truthful verbal statement are likely to be true and which parts are assessed to be doubtful. In addition, the use of two parallel methods to detect deceit should improve the diagnostic value of the results. A pilot study in laboratory conditions (n = 8, yielding 190 assessment points) utilising an applied mock crime scenario was conducted. Correlation calculations showed that a dual-method approach slightly improved the within-statement truth accuracy, and it was achieved mainly by decreasing the number of false positives. As the truth accuracy was increased, the lie accuracy within the test group slightly decreased. The results confirmed that by applying parallel orienting response (EDA) and cognitive load (speech-related indices)-based assessment methods, it is possible to detect embedded lies successfully in an information-gathering interview setup.

Current scenario of crime against women

Current scenario of crime against women

Looking more criminal: It's not so black and white.

Prior research regarding the influence of face structure on character judgments and first impressions reveals that bias for certain face-types is ubiquitous, but these studies primarily used decontextualized White faces for stimuli. Given the disadvantages Black men face in the legal system, this study aimed to investigate whether the criminal face-type presented in the context of crime influenced different legal system-type judgments as a function of perpetrator race. In a mixed-model design, participants saw Black and White computer-generated faces that varied in criminality presented with either violent or nonviolent crime scenarios. At test, participants attempted to identify the original perpetrator from a photo array, along with providing penalty severity judgments for the crime committed. Results indicate that when crimes were violent, participants meted harsher penalties overall to Black faces or to high-criminality faces identified as the perpetrator. Furthermore, for violent crimes, participants were more likely to select a face from the photo array that was higher/equally as high in criminality rating relative to the actual perpetrator when memory failed or when the perpetrator was Black. Overall, the findings suggest that when people are making judgments that could influence another's livelihood, they may rely heavily on facial cues to criminality and the nature of the crime; and this is especially the case for Black faces presented in the context of violent crime. The pattern of results provides further support for the pervasive stereotype of Black men as criminal, even in our racially diverse sample wherein 36% identified as Black.

Memory accuracy, suggestibility and credibility in investigative interviews with native and non-native eyewitnesses.

Legal practitioners sometimes obtain eyewitness testimonies from non-native language speakers, yet few studies examine the effects of language in investigative interviews. Here, we investigate how testifying in a non-native vs. native language affects memory accuracy, susceptibility to suggestions, and witnesses perceived credibility. After viewing a mock-crime film, participants in Study 1 (N = 121) testified through (1) free recall, (2) cued recall and (3) the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales adapted to the crime scenario used in the present study either in their native (Swedish) or a non-native (English) language. They also rated their confidence in their memories, self-perceived credibility and cognitive effort. Native and non-native witnesses did not differ in memory accuracy, susceptibility to suggestions, self-rated credibility or cognitive effort. Non-native (vs. native) speakers did however report lower confidence in their memories. In Study 2, another group of participants (N = 202) were presented with the testimonies from Study 1, and judged witnesses’ credibility. Non-native witnesses were judged as less credible than native speakers. Thus, while the lower confidence exhibited by non-native eyewitnesses did not correspond to their actual memory accuracy, it influenced observers’ judgments of their performance. The results provide important knowledge for legal practices when evaluating the reliability of testimonies from non-native vs. native speaking eyewitnesses.

Latent fingerprint and Iris fusion for enhancement of performance of human identification system

The biometric recognition system is a highly precise human identification system as per Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Latent fingerprint biometrics are an efficient human identification system for criminals based on available crime evidence shreds. However, biometric trait limitations such as noise in sensed data, lack of individuality, and intra-class variation result in a low matching score, which has a negative impact on the identification as well as investigation process. The increasing demand for biometric systems for accurate identification has resulted in the development of unimodal biometric systems to multimodal biometric systems, particularly when the biometric inputs are considered as evidence of any societal crime. This paper focuses on showing the advantage of using modal based approach over the threshold based and development of a multimodal biometric framework for achieving high accuracy in human identification. The comparison of the identification rate/recognition probability of modal-based approach (87.3%) is high in compared to threshold-based approach (80%). Latent fingerprint biometric is fused with iris biometric using score level fusion (sum rule and product rule) rules. With the experimental results, it has been found that highest accuracy rate (91.15%) in proposed identification framework can be achieved while using sum rule. The proposed framework is useful in a societal crime scenario, as assumed in this paper.

Changing Scenario of Crime with Special Reference to Cyber Crime

Abstract: Crime may be defined as those actions committed by human beings that cause harm to others and violate societal norms. But with the advancement in science and technology that has reshaped every aspect of human life the scenario of crime has also changed from that of traditional to technological because in ancient times the concept of crime was prevalent in the society but the nature of crime was not so sophisticated as we see in the technological era. The invention of computers and smart phones has facilitated different types of cyber crimes in the society. Almost everyone is possessing a smart phone and the usage of it depends upon the people who will use it in a positive way. The concept of digital education has emerged as an important tool in the hands of learners and educators to propagate the education. Learners of lower age group are also using these technological equipments so parents should keep a strict vigil and supervision over their children in order to avoid such types of activities that cause moral harm to the norms and values of society. The main aim of this paper is to analyse how the nature of crime has changed and the different types of crime particularly in consideration with Cyber crime

Crime severity, relational distance, and bystander reporting

ObjectivesThis study examined the effects of crime severity and relational distance on bystanders' willingness to report crime and provide a statement to police. MethodsA sample of 1438 adults in the U.S. completed a factorial vignette survey. Participants read three crime scenarios and indicated their willingness to report and provide a statement to police. Crime severity (major harm or minor harm), bystander relationship to the perpetrator (family member, friend, or stranger), and bystander relationship to the victim (family member, friend, or stranger) were manipulated across scenarios. Multilevel models were estimated. ResultsCrime severity increased the willingness to report, whereas a close relationship with the perpetrator decreased it. However, a close relationship with the victim attenuated the effect of relational distance to the perpetrator on the willingness to report. Crime severity and relational distance did not influence the willingness to provide a statement, with one exception. ConclusionsCrime severity and relational distance influence bystanders' willingness to report, but do not appear to influence the willingness to provide a statement. The willingness to report and provide a statement are related, but may be distinct dimensions of the willingness to cooperate.

Do Remittances Contribute to Presidential Instability in Latin America?

ABSTRACTAre Latin American presidents at greater risk for removal in remittance-dependent countries? Departing from the debate about whether remittances produce democratic or autocratic outcomes, this article asks whether remittances contribute to presidential removals, which are an important characteristic of Latin American democracies since the Third Wave. It uses questions about supporting a military coup under high corruption and crime scenarios to gauge remittance recipients’ support for early removal of a president. It finds that remittances create a constituency that tolerates military coups. Using data from Martínez (2021), the analysis also shows that remittances increase the risk of removal for presidents who face a greater number of scandals; but remittances do not pose this threat under poor economic performance.

The Quixotic Quest for Objectivity in Observation

The Quixotic Quest for Objectivity in Observation

Man in the macro- and microenvironment, the captivity of obsessions and to himself: features of the origin and the formation of criminal motivation (sociological, psychological and criminological aspects)

Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the article examines the peculiarities of a person’s thinking and behavior, depending on the level of involvement and the nature of his relationships in the macro- and microenvironment, as well as during the period when he is in captivity of obsessions (obsession) or himself; examines the stages of a person's mental activity when he has the idea of committing a crime, and the reasons that gave rise to it; the dynamics of the maturation of such motivation and the factors contributing to its materialization are analyzed. The conclusion is substantiated that the state of obsession, the costs of the state and society act as a starting point for the origin of the rudiments of the idea of committing a crime in an individual, which is actualized over time, after which it transforms into a specific criminal plan when he is in himself. Being in this state, an individual mentally creates a scenario of a future crime, develops an algorithm for its implementation, considers the conditions under which the intended act may be committed, calculates the possible risks of its commission, provides options for his post-criminal behavior, etc. After being formed at the mental level, this scenario is recorded in a person’s long-term memory, where it is stored in an alert state, and when a suitable situation occurs, a trigger is triggered for its implementation. On the basis of these premises, as well as a number of other arguments, the article hypothesizes that any intentional crime (with the exception of situational and committed in a state of passion), be it murder or rape, robbery or theft, etc., is essentially only a retransmission of the scenario of a specific crime, once created by an individual on at the cognitive level and extracted from the subconscious at the right moment for its practical implementation. In other words, the emergence and development of criminal motivation is not a momentary intellectual and volitional act, but a time–stretched thought process aimed at finding optimal ways to meet certain needs of an individual that he could not (did not want to) implement within the framework of the law. At the same time, the space-time gap between the moment of the origin of the idea of committing a crime and its actual implementation can be short-term, medium-term or long-term.2