Criminological Research Research Articles

Correction to “Susceptibility to violent extremism and cognitive rigidity: Registered replication, corroboration and open questions for criminological research and practice”Zmigrod, L. (2022). Susceptibility to violent extremism and cognitive rigidity: Registered replication, corroboration and open questions for criminological research and practice. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 27, 170–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12225

Correction to “Susceptibility to violent extremism and cognitive rigidity: Registered replication, corroboration and open questions for criminological research and practice”Zmigrod, L. (2022). Susceptibility to violent extremism and cognitive rigidity: Registered replication, corroboration and open questions for criminological research and practice. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 27, 170–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12225

Commentary: Prioritising Randomized Trials; David P. Farrington's Legacy for Criminology in the 21st Century: As Criminological Research Tilts Towards Ideology, Randomized Experiments Are Key for Reinforcing True Science.

Commentary: Prioritising Randomized Trials; David P. Farrington's Legacy for Criminology in the 21st Century: As Criminological Research Tilts Towards Ideology, Randomized Experiments Are Key for Reinforcing True Science.

Sociological and Criminological Research of Victimization Issues: Preliminary Stage and New Sphere of Cybercrime Categorization

Sociological and Criminological Research of Victimization Issues: Preliminary Stage and New Sphere of Cybercrime Categorization

The Process of Internal Corruption Detection using the Criminological Approach based on Case-based Reasoning

Internal corruption within companies, particularly involving financial resources, is of immediate concern. The potential havoc it can wreak underscores the necessity of preventing and identifying such instances, as they are pivotal for an organization’s financial security, credibility, and reputation. This is a crucial area of research in criminology and fraud detection. Using a criminological perspective, this paper introduces the unique process of detecting internal corruption, specifically embezzlement. The method, a rule-based internal corruption detection system that employs Case-based Reasoning (CBR) and a criminological approach, is not just an advancement but a pioneering leap in the field of fraud detection in companies.

An Examination of Differential Item Functioning in a Measure of Self-Reported Offending Across Race and Ethnicity Among a Sample of Justice-Involved Youth

Self-report measures of offending are widely used in criminological research and have been employed to examine potential differences across groups in offending. An assumption of these comparisons is that the items that comprise these measures function similarly across relevant groups. We evaluated differential item functioning (DIF) of a measure of self-reported offending across White, Black, and Hispanic youth involved in the justice system (n = 1289) using multigroup item response theory analysis. We then demonstrated the utility of moderated non-linear factor analysis by testing if relevant continuous-level covariates (i.e. socioeconomic status, neighborhood disorder, and impulse control) accounted for DIF associated with race/ethnicity. The findings suggest that several items displayed DIF, and that the DIF associated with race/ethnicity persisted even after controlling for covariates. We also compared two models that predicted non-DIF-adjusted scores to DIF-adjusted scores. The results indicate that summed raw scores of offending may bias estimates across groups.

Virtual reality-based retrospective think aloud (VR-RTA): a novel method for studying offender decision-making

ObjectivesThis article describes and tests a novel multi-method approach to examine decision-making: Virtual Reality-Based Retrospective Think-Aloud (VR-RTA). The VR-RTA method taps into the offender perspective and aims to enhance memory recall and information elicitation.MethodsWe applied VR-RTA among a sample of incarcerated burglars (N = 200) who scouted virtual neighborhoods to explore opportunities for burglary in immersive VR equipped with integrated eye tracking. Subsequently, they viewed a screen recording of their scouting process and simultaneously “thought aloud” about their assessment of the environment and decision-making strategies. Emerging themes were then further examined in an interview and linked to survey data. Recorded eye tracking data were used to examine burglars’ attention towards environmental features to identify deterrent and attracting cues, and were triangulated with the survey and interview data.ResultsRich and detailed insights into participants’ interpretation of the environment and their decision-making strategies were obtained. VR-RTA assisted in verbalizing automated cognitive processes and increased participant engagement by building rapport.ConclusionsAs a multi-method approach able to capture in-the-moment considerations underlying decision-making during crime commission, VR-RTA offers potential to develop into an important tool for crime research. It is able to both overcome limitations of studies using retrospective methods, such as interviews and surveys, and contribute to the nascent field of criminological research using immersive technologies.

The construction of intolerable punishments: On the value of documenting the pains of old prisoners

This article closely reviews a selection of criminology studies on the pains of older prisoners to examine the construction of a particular type of ‘intolerable’ punishment. The term ‘intolerable’ depicts the moral line between acceptable state punitive treatments and those that become so unbearable they are being or should be abandoned. The article finds that the pains of older prisoners are characterised as quantitatively significant, qualitatively distinct, and comparatively worse. Such construction, however, misses the societal dimension of ageing in prison and perpetuates a reductive and stereotypical understanding of ‘old age’ centred on prisoners’ deteriorating bodies. In critically examining the role that criminological research may play in distinguishing between acceptable and intolerable punishments, the article sets out the value of documenting the pains of ageing prisoners.

Ransomware HR: Human Resources Practices and Organizational Support in the Conti Ransomware Group

ABSTRACT Ransomware is widely regarded as one of the most economically damaging cybercrimes. Existing criminological research has focused largely on the structure, routines, and activities of ransomware groups, or traced financial transactions to advance understanding of their associated harms. This paper explores how the Conti ransomware group employed human resources (HR) practices and other organizational supports to recruit, retain, and motivate its employees. Data is drawn from a leaked dataset containing tens of thousands of messages between employees and affiliates of Conti. We analyze this dataset through the lens of organizational support theory (OST), one of the most influential theories in the field of organization and management psychology. Our analysis shows that Conti employed a variety of HR practices to improve worker satisfaction and commitment, many of which are supported by OST research. By better understanding these practices, we aim to provide a novel, theoretically informed perspective through which the operations of ransomware groups can be better understood. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this knowledge can be used to inform the development of law enforcement strategies intended to disrupt ransomware groups.

Vote choice in the context of lethal police violence: A research note

Do police-caused deaths predict presidential vote choice in the US? This study explores the relationship between lethal police violence and vote choice in the 2020 presidential election using individual-level data from Harvard University's Cooperative Election Study (CES), which has been linked with aggregate-level data on police killings, civilian homicide rates, and socioeconomic, political, and public health characteristics. Consistent with the issue ownership theory of voting, this study finds that voters living in areas characterized by lethal police violence are significantly more likely to vote for the Democratic Party above and beyond their individual-level attributes and other contextual conditions. These findings and supplemental analyses raise critical questions concerning the political salience of fatal force in presidential races in the post-2020 era. Findings also support the need for further criminological inquiry into the effects of different forms of violence on American political behavior.

Predicting Public Violent Crime Using Register and OpenStreetMap Data: A Risk Terrain Modeling Approach Across Three Cities of Varying Size

The aim of the current study is to estimate whether spatial data on place features from OpenStreetMap (OSM) produce results similar to those when employing register data to predict future violent crime in public across three Swedish cities of varying sizes. Using violent crime in public as an outcome, four models for each city are produced using a Risk Terrain Modeling approach. One using spatial data on place features from register data and one from OSM, one model with prior violent crime excluded and one with prior crime included. The results show that several place features are significantly associated with violent crime in public independent of using register or OSM data as input. While models using register data seem to produce more accurate and efficient predictions than OSM data for the two smaller cities, the difference for the largest city is negligible indicating that the models provide similar results. As such, OSM place feature data may be of value when predicting the spatial distribution of future violent crime in public and provide results similar to those when using register data, at least when employed in larger compared to smaller cities. Possibilities, limitations, and avenues for future research when using OSM data in place-based criminological research are discussed.

Criminologists’ perceptions of qualitative and quantitative methods in criminology and criminal justice

ABSTRACT Despite the growing scholarly attention surrounding the marginalization of qualitative research in Criminology, research has yet to examine how criminologists view the legitimacy, value, and contribution of qualitative and quantitative methods. Using a sample of 340 qualitative and quantitative criminologists and a mixed methods approach, we find that qualitative participants reported feeling less valued in the field than their quantitative counterparts, while the majority of all participants believed that our journals are not equally receptive to both methods. Not only do our findings contribute to the ongoing methodological debate in the field, but they also have policy implications for graduate programs, senior scholars, and journal editors – all of which play a significant role in promoting methodological diversity and the (re)production of knowledge.

Mobilizing extremism: an examination of the travel patterns of right-wing extremists in the United States

ABSTRACT Extensive criminological research has documented a ‘distance-decay’ effect in criminal activity, with offenders less likely to commit crimes farther from their residences. While recent studies have identified similar patterns in ideologically motivated violence, variation in the travel behaviors of extremists remains underexplored. Using data on right-wing extremists who carried out a violent plot, between 2000 and 2020, alongside information on Capitol insurrectionist arrestees – and drawing on routine activity and rational-choice theories of offender decision-making – this study extends this literature along three dimensions: type, time, and ties. First, we distinguish between different types of offenders, showing that while both violent extremists and insurrectionists exhibit distance-decays, the latter tend to travel farther and exhibit a more irregular decay. Secondly, we identify a meaningful temporal shift in the right-wing extremist landscape, with offenders increasingly traveling longer distances to execute their plots. Finally, we highlight the role of social ties in shaping travel behaviors, where individuals affiliated with extremist groups tend to travel longer distances. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the spatial behavior of right-wing extremists, the factors influencing their mobility, and the evolving nature of right-wing extremism in the United States.

From men's violence to an ethic of care: Ecofeminist contributions to green criminology

Green criminology has made important contributions to criminological inquiry by highlighting the destructive impact of humans on the more-than-human world. However, it often adopts a gender-neutral lens that overlooks the disproportionate role of men and masculinities in perpetrating green harms. This paper places green criminology into critical dialogue with ecofeminism, arguing that harms against the environment and nonhuman animals are inextricably gendered and should be understood as interconnected forms of men's violence. Ecofeminist insights reveal that violence against the more-than-human world is rooted in hierarchical dualisms, whereby humans are placed separate from and above nature, and the masculine is defined as superior to the feminine. This hierarchical logic enables men to view others in detached, instrumental ways and serves to legitimise acts of men's violence. But just as ecofeminism provides green criminologists with a productive framework for understanding men's violence against the environment and nonhuman animals, it also provides a means of moving beyond this violence. It does this by advocating for an ethic of care that unravels hierarchical modes of thinking and promotes more harmonious relationships between humans and the more-than-human world. By building caring, egalitarian relationships with other living beings (and with their own emotional selves), it is harder for men to act in violent, dominating ways towards others, providing the foundation for more sustainable, interdependent ways of being.

A Criminological–Military Enterprise

Abstract This article builds upon, and extends, critiques of British criminology’s enterprising collaboration with state-based institutions. Through an investigation of the discipline’s discreet contribution to the UK military ‘knowledge economy’ (Catignani and Basham 2021), criminological research is revealed as having the capacity to insulate the British military from critique and depoliticize military violence. Informed by criminological and critical military studies scholarship, the ‘criminological–military enterprise’ is introduced into academic discourse. This term offers a critical analysis of the discipline’s contemporary ‘blended’ (Shields 2024) research with the British military estate, provides ‘enriched reflexive’ (Danielsson 2022) problems for critical scholars to contemplate, and calls for a (re)politicization of military issues within criminological research.

Translational and Transnational Approaches in Comparative Criminological Research: A Content Analysis Focused on Asian Countries

Translational and Transnational Approaches in Comparative Criminological Research: A Content Analysis Focused on Asian Countries

Are we there yet? Silencing research methods and Indigenous peoples in contemporary criminology

A decade ago, research empirically established that there is a dearth of criminological research on “Indigenous peoples in the criminal legal context of settler-colonial societies” published in elite criminology journals and that the scarce number of published studies primarily employs “silencing research methods” although mainstream criminologists generally prefer non-silencing research methods. Since the hyperincarceration of Indigenous peoples continues and publications on the topic remain scarce, this study set out to verify whether anything has changed over the past decade (2011–2020) with regard to the use of silencing research methods. The findings reveal that when criminologists address the topic Indigenous peoples in the criminal legal context of settler-colonial societies, the use of non-silencing research methods has increased overall, but it is not yet on par with their general use by criminologists and when compared to their use with other hyperincarcerated populations, i.e., African and Hispanic Americans. Also, Indigenous people in the United States face increased silencing. The study concludes that small, non-linear inroads have been made toward ending the discriminatory use of non-silencing research methods with the understanding that the use of such methods alone is insufficient for research to be considered non-silencing or even decolonising.

Consistency in verbal expression of death row criminals: concluding life with emotions

IntroductionThere is a lack of both data and, more significantly, computational analyses of the linguistic behavior near an individual's final moments of life. The present study is aimed to reduce human bias and save time in psycholinguistic studies by providing data-backed insights.MethodsA novel machine learning based pipeline proposed, using elements of semantic similarity (BERT and transformers) and emotion extraction in collaboration, to analyze the final statements of death row inmates to understand the consistency in their verbal expression moments before their death. A new method of analysis was proposed in this study to explore the notions inherent in the statements. A large database of 466 final statements from death row inmates in Texas was utilized in this study. Manual notion analysis was validated by a computational method of notion inferencing.ResultsBasic emotions of Anger and Fear majorly dominated the statements, constituting 54% of the whole, while 21% of all statements were of emotional states of Happiness and Serenity.DiscussionThe outcomes of this study are expected to contribute to psychological analyses of humans, moments before death, and provide insights to criminology researchers to formulate better strategies of rehabilitation and debate the death penalty.

Beyond the Seductions of the State: Toward Freeing Criminology from Governments’ Blinders

Criminology is haunted by state-structured biases. We discuss five. (a) With the spatial boundaries and the binary deontology they use to count crime, governments draw researchers into an ecological fog and sometimes fallacy. (b) All legal systems encourage criminologists to promote untenable implications of socially stratified criminality. (c) To degrees that vary by time and place, the scope of criminological research is compromised by methodological nationalism. (d) State agencies use chronologies that repeatedly draw researchers away from examining the nonlinear temporalities that shape variations in criminal behavior. (e) State agencies produce data that facilitate explaining the why of crime, but scientific naturalism would first work out what is to be explained. We recommend a criminology that begins by describing causal contingencies in social life independent of governments’ labeling of crime.

Theorizing and Understanding Corporate Involvement in Atrocity Crimes

Abstract Corporate involvement in atrocity crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, has become an important topic for ngo s, activists and scholars from different disciplines, often focusing on the important question how to achieve a better regulation of and accountability for corporate roles in atrocities. This contribution, instead, is focused on the aetiology of this phenomenon. A theoretical framework is proposed based on, on the one hand, what follows from criminological research on corporate crime, state crime and state-corporate crime and, on the other hand, in-depth case studies of three contexts: Nazi Germany (1933–1945), Apartheid South Africa (1948–1994) and the drc (1996–2016). The proposed framework identifies the motivational drivers, opportunity aspects, and elements of the (lack of) control that, together, can explain why that corporation became involved in atrocity crimes. The framework is intended to—through application to new case studies—improve knowledge about and understanding of corporate involvement in atrocity crimes and to expand the conceptual and theoretical understanding of this phenomenon.

‘Shifting logics in criminal justice’: Introduction to the special issue

In this piece, we introduce a special issue celebrating Professor Joanna Shapland’s 40-year contribution to criminology and criminal justice. It is derived from an international conference hosted by the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Sheffield on ‘Shifting Logics in Criminal Justice’, which took place on 12–14 April 2023. In the introduction, we reflect on Joanna Shapland’s contributions to the fields of victims, restorative justice, desistance and policing, before providing an overview of the seven papers in the special issue that examine these key themes in her research. There are three papers on the theme of desistance, respectively, by Robin G�lnander, Stephen Farrall and Laura Abrams; two on on policing by Pieter Leloup, and by Jacque de Maillard and Megan O’Neill; and two on restorative justice by Rebecca Banwell-Moore, and by Joanna Shapland, Jamie Buchan, Steve Kirwood and Estelle Zinsstag.