Criminal Patterns Research Articles

A Systematic Review on the use of Machine Learning and Deep Learning Techniques for Crime Prediction from Social Media

The goal of crime prediction is to help law enforcement authorities to prevent crimes before they happen by identifying and reducing potential future crimes. In present days, crime cases are rapidly occur so it is a challenging task to accurately predict and classify the future crimes, as criminal patterns are adaptable and constantly evolve, making it a challenging task. Sentiment analysis is essential for deciphering the feelings conveyed in text since social media has grown into a popular venue for individuals to communicate their thoughts, feelings, views, and comments. This analysis is particularly valuable for making informed decisions in business, politics and government agencies especially to identify crimes. However, it faces the difficulties like lexical diversity and dataset imbalance. In order to make better decisions and maybe lower the risk of predicting the suspects in a crime, early crime prediction has lately made use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) models like Deep Learning (DL) and Machine Learning (ML). When applied to crime data, ML and DL models may assist pinpoint possible crime hotspots and foretell when crimes may occur. Crime prediction and categorization using social media posts is covered in depth in this paper, which offers a comprehensive overview of several ML and DL frameworks. Initially, different ML and DL based crime prediction models designed by many researchers are examined in brief. The next step is to do a comparison research to learn about the shortcomings of those frameworks and provide an alternative method for effectively predicting crimes based on social media postings.

Intelligence Gathering and Sustainable Crime Management in Nigeria

Nigeria has witnessed different categories of crime and unimagined attacks such as terrorism attacks, insurgency, proliferation of arms and ammunition, transnational organized crimes, drug trafficking, bandit’s attacks, kidnapping, abduction, violence attacks on individuals and robberies, cybercrimes, trading on illicit drugs and dealing on contraband goods. Crime in the society today has become a recurring daily discussion that is bordering all manner of individuals and group living in the society. There is therefore every need to take proactive measures at ending this menace that has become an enemy not only to the growth and development of the society but the entire existence of humanity. The study focuses on the application of intelligence gathering in crime in management Nigeria. This study delves into the relevance of the intelligence gatheringapproach in crime management within the Nigerian context, while exploring the nature of intelligence gathering and its application in Nigeria. This research investigates the practical implementation of intelligence gathering and its impact on crime management and control in Nigeria. The study uses qualitative data that allows for the identification of emergent themes and patterns of criminality in Nigeria. Findings indicate that the intelligence gathering approach holds relevance in adapting to dynamic criminal trends in Nigeria. This study contributes to the discourse on modernizing law enforcement strategies in Nigeria by examining the practical relevance of the intelligence gathering in crime control. The study’s outcomes aim to inform policies and practices that enhance the effectiveness of intelligence-driven approach in addressing crime challenges, offering insights for strategic decision-making in the realm of law enforcement.

The Investigation of Illicit Tron Wallet based on Temporal Behaviour Analysis

The widespread use of cryptocurrency for criminal activities has led to the development of new methods for identifying illicit wallet behavior. This study proposes a machine learning approach that utilizes law enforcement databases to obtain case-related labels on TRON. By analyzing behavioral patterns of wallet addresses in open ledgers, machine learning algorithms were trained to recognize illicit wallet behaviors. The results show that temporal features exhibit improved performance in identifying illicit wallet behavior. The experimental results also indicate that the LightGBM and XGBoost algorithms achieved better performance, while the LightGBM algorithm excelled in Precision and the XGBoost algorithm performed better in Recall. The results of this study indicate that compared to previous research on identifying illegal wallets, criminal behavior develops corresponding criminal patterns based on different blockchain ecosystems. Therefore, for the identification of illegal wallets, it is necessary to extract and analyze features according to different public ledger formats to achieve higher accuracy.

기후온난화와 기후변화가 범죄양상에 미치는 영향과 초국가적 환경범죄의 등장

This article aims to study on the impact of global warming and climate change on the criminal patterns and the meaning of the transnational environmental crime. Nowadays human activities have caused global warming and climate change through the use of fossil fuel and this finally generates the environmental harm or environmental crime. Unlike the past, the recent environmental crime happens not in one country or region but in the international or global level. Recently owing to the development of traffic vehicles like airplane or ship or car, some crimes are committed across the nations: for example, illegal trade of timber, arms, animals or polluting substances, so the environmental crimes are committed across the nations or global level, therefore it is called as the transnational environmental crime. The transnational environmental crime(TEC) means the environmental crime which happens across the nations or global level, and it is not easy to estimate the size of the TEC, so a lot of criminal gangs or organized crime are connected with the TEC. For example, criminal gangs or organized crime deliver the waste or E-waste like cellular phones or computers to the poor country illegally, are concerned with the illegal dumping of polluting substances, do the illegal trafficking of timer or animals like tigers or rhinos. However, each nation or UN has not proper countermeasures to the TEC, so the size of TEC is growing over the years, and more kinds of TEC is created by the criminal gangs or organized crime. Therefore it is needed to make a proper means to prevent TEC in the global level.

The Application Dilemmas in the Crime of Refusing to Perform the Obligations of Information Security Management

Aiming at cybercrimes, China has stipulated the crime of refusing to perform the obligations of information security management in the Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law. However, in judicial practice, the application of this crime is extremely rare, causing a waste of legislative resources. The reason can be attributed to the zombification of legal provisions. This paper focuses on the dilemma of applying this crime in judicial practice. There are two specific dilemmas. The one is the identity of the applicable subject of the crime and the accompanying management obligations are vague. The other is that the boundary Between this crime and the crime of aiding network information crime is unclear, which can be attributed to the similarities in constituent elements. There are three aspects that this paper considers confusing including the identity of knowing, their criminal patterns and the boundaries Between consequential and behavioral offenses. Based on these judicial application dilemmas, this paper urges that the court should consider the details of the cybercrime more carefully in the trial to better apply this crime. Meanwhile, it is unacceptable to directly apply the crime of aiding network information crime as a pocket crime without detailed analysis. The popularization of law should focus on the underlying logic, which means targeting netizens. Therefore, the ultimate goal of eradicating cybercrime can be achieved.

Offending Patterns in Cases of Sexual Violence Committed by Multiple Perpetrators

ABSTRACT Sexual violence committed by multiple perpetrators is a particularly worrying phenomenon given that the severity of psychopathological sequelae for the victims are increased when the sexual offense is committed by more than one offender. Preliminary studies showed that sexual violence committed by solo offenders is different from that of duos or groups of offenders. This study explores the heterogeneity within 983 cases of sexual violence committed by multiple perpetrators, with a focus not only on offenders’ modus operandi, but also victims’ routine activities and situational aspects of the crime. Results from a latent class analysis identified four offending patterns: sexual violence committed by multiple perpetrators where: 1) stranger victims were randomly selected; 2) offenders were geographically mobile; 3) victims were assaulted during social events; and 4) offenders were non-sexually motivated. Findings help identify situational characteristics interacting with offenders’ behaviors and victims’ routine activities associated with sexual violence committed by multiple perpetrators. The implications regarding the heterogeneity of criminal patterns in these forms of violence is discussed in relation to police practice, situational crime prevention strategies, and future research.

Criminal responsibility for electronic harassment crimes

New unfamiliar criminal patterns have recently appeared due to economic, societal and cultural transformations that have engulfed modern life. This style of crimes is manifested by cybercrimes which began to constitute a serious danger on individuals and their privacies. Modern technology has become a tool to violate law. It has been harnessed to make data loss, breach of ethics and decency or incitement to commit criminal acts. This invasive advancement of technology has significantly contributed to globalizing this novel criminal patterns, which give rise to complex problems in the absence of adequate criminal laws to counter such crimes and to accommodate this modern technology.

Addressing Ethnic Differences in the Validity of Self-reported Criminal Behaviour Through a Social Desirability Measure

Abstract Objectives Self-reported criminal behaviour has the potential to provide clearer insights into patterns of criminality compared to using police statistics. The risk of inaccurate responses however forms a major obstacle to its validity. This study therefore examines underreporting bias of self-reported criminal behaviour among five ethnic groups and compares different methods to facilitate the creation of valid intergroup comparisons. Methods This study includes data from the Monitor on Youthful Delinquency (N = 6,218) which was connected to police suspect registrations. To identify patterns of underreporting, we compared self-reported and police recorded crime with a social desirability measure, which was adjusted to be invariant across ethnic groups. Three different methods to correct for underreporting bias were subsequently compared; partialling out the effect of social desirability, listwise deletion, and a novel technique which we named Social Desirability based Score Replacement (SDSR). Results The study reveals that police suspects with a high social desirability score display a low likelihood to self-report crime when they have an ethnic minority background, but not when they have a native Dutch background or when they have a moderate to low social desirability score. This finding points towards systematic differences in underreporting bias. Model outcomes are shown to be significantly impacted depending on the method that is used to address this issue. Conclusion Neglecting to correct underreporting-bias hinders the validity of intergroup comparisons of self-reported criminal behaviour. The inclusion of a social desirability measure is therefore recommended to help identify and correct underreporting bias, particularly through the use of SDSR.

What does the UK Police National Database tell us about the future of police intelligence?

Abstract Developments in technology are transforming society, creating more opportunities for offenders and complicating the policing landscape. The challenge for law enforcement is to identify criminal patterns from an offender’s electronic traces and to provide actionable intelligence. However, these traces are held by diverse police forces and are rarely connected. In 2011, to overcome this challenge, the Police National Database (PND) was launched to provide a national intelligence overview from local data. This study examines the database, using a mixed-methods approach. Descriptive and inferential analyses of PND usage data highlight that different forces use the PND, and its various capabilities, with different levels of frequency. Thematic analyses of interviews and focus groups with PND users identified: specific examples of PND use, as well as its perceived strengths, perceived deficiencies, and future considerations. Implications for policing practice are discussed.

Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility as Part of Criminal Policies

The increase in peer violence and juvenile delinquency from year to year has kept the question of minimum age of criminal responsibility open around the world. States, not only in different parts of the world, but also within smaller regions territorially connecting them, have been developing various criminal legal responses to this question. Reasons behind such a variety lie in circumstances of economic, social, cultural, religious, political, and even political nature. In theory and practice, two opposing concepts can be distinguished – the so-called repressive and holistic concepts. Advocates of the first concept believe that a strict criminal policy is the safest way toward decreasing criminality among children and minors. On the other side, supporters of the holistic approach believe children in early age cannot understand the meaning of their actions, that is why lowering the age of criminal responsibility would introduce children to the criminal legal system too early when society could take timely measures that would prevent children from adopting a criminal pattern of behaviour. Using the comparative law method, as well as other qualitative and quantitative methods necessary for a productive analysis and deduction of valid conclusions, in this paper we aim to point up key aspects of the differences between the repressive and holistic approach to determining the minimum age of criminal responsibility. The final result is a firmly established belief that it is necessary to give advantage to the approach that does not see the children and minors drawn into the criminal milieu as part of the problem but as part of the solution.

Предупреждение насильственной преступности в интересах социально-экономического развития государства (опыт Республики Беларусь)

Abstract. Personal safety from criminal offences is highly valued by society and state and is of top priority for the criminal science and criminal law. Human life, health, sexual freedom and safety, a relevant level of public order and morals are considered the most important goals of the law enforcement, and that demands a choice of harsh punishments for murder, bodily injuries, rape etc. Among all the crimes committed in our state violent crimes are both prevalent and significant due to a heightened harm to society, since they often bring irrevocable harm. Dangerous social processes (alcoholism, marginalization, addictions to different drugs and types of behavior, a rise of mental illnesses) bolster the danger. 
 Therefore, creation and implementation of the modern ways and measures of violent offenses prevention becomes both relevant and timely. The system of prevention should be built basing on the quantitate and qualitive characteristics as a multi-level structure (general, special and individual level).
 Goal. Employing the academic research, case data, survey results the author aims at optimization of the multi-leveled system of the violent crimes and hooliganism prevention.
 Methods. The author uses comparative legal method, practical method of description, theoretical methods such as formal and dialectical logic, and surveys. Among the special scientific methods author has chosen formal legal and legal interpretation method.
 Results. Combating and prevention of crime, including violent offenses, stays a priority for every nation. It is directly related to the national safety from the domestic threats. One of the directions of state activities in that sphere is an exploration of the prevention methods.
 Collection of the analytical data on the quantitate and qualitive characteristics of the violent crimes in their dynamic, research in the sphere of personal characteristics of offenders violating life, health and sexual safety and public order allow us to create a holistic legal and scientific criminal policy in a Republic of Belarus, showing also a potential in prevention. Simultaneously a risk of recidivism among the convicted (more than 40 percent) for violence or violent threats demands our attention to the development and implementation of the multi-level prevention strategy.
 Scientific novelty. As a result of the research and accounting for the found criminal patterns the author offers an opinion of the prevention system reform in the field of violent crimes and hooliganism.
 Practical significance. The suggestions of the article in case of their implementation promise a probable decline of the violent crime rate, accounting for the optimization of the prevention activities of the different stakeholders in that field.

Risk and Pattern Analysis of Pakistani Crime Data Using Unsupervised Learning Techniques

To reduce crime rates, there is a need to understand and analyse emerging patterns of criminal activities. This study examines the occurrence patterns of crimes using the crime dataset of Lahore, a metropolitan city in Pakistan. The main aim is to facilitate crime investigation and future risk analysis using visualization and unsupervised data mining techniques including clustering and association rule mining. The visualization of data helps to uncover trends present in the crime dataset. The K-modes clustering algorithm is used to perform the exploratory analysis and risk identification of similar criminal activities that can happen in a particular location. The Apriori algorithm is applied to mine frequent patterns of criminal activities that can happen on a particular day, time, and location in the future. The data were acquired from paper-based records of three police stationsin the Urdu language. The data were then translated into English and digitized for automatic analysis. The result helped identify similar crime-related activities that can happen in a particular location, the risk of potential criminal activities occurring on a specific day, time, and place in the future, and frequent crime patterns of different crime types. The proposed work can help the police department to detect crime events and situations and reduce crime incidents in the early stages by providing insights into criminal activity patterns.

Criminal Behavior and Psychosocial Risk Factors in Brazilian Adolescent Offenders: An Exploratory Latent Class Analysis.

Considering that adolescent offenders are quite a heterogeneous group in terms of behavioral and psychosocial variables, it is considered that a typological approach can assist in the systematization of these differences, aiming at a better understanding of the phenomenon and at clearer guidance in terms of interventions. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the behavioral and psychosocial profiles of male adolescent offenders, based on empirical data collected in a Brazilian sociocultural context. The profiles were made with a sample of 400 adolescent offenders to perform an exploratory latent classes analysis. The instruments used in data collection were the Youth Behavior Questionnaire (Questionário de Comportamentos Juvenis, QCJ) and the Brazilian Jesness Inventory—Revised (Inventário Jesness-Revisado-Brasileiro, IJ-R-Br). The most appropriate model was that of four classes, with the profiles found indicating differences between the adolescent offenders both in relation to psychological functioning and criminal pattern, as well as the psychosocial risk/protective factors associated with each of the profiles. These findings, in addition to contributing to understanding the phenomenon, may help to reflect on the assessments required to assist in judicial decision-making processes and the customized proposal of psychosocial interventions.

Temporal Variability of Theft Types in the Historic Centre of Porto

Criminology theories imply that time is a relevant variable, especially for the prevention and intervention of criminal occurrences. Thus, the study of criminal temporal patterns has been described as being of great relevance. The present study focuses on describing and exploring the influence of temporal and seasonal variables on the occurrence of different types of theft in the Historic Centre of Porto through the analysis of official records of the Public Security Police. Significant differences were found regarding the time of day and season of occurrence, even though it is not observed for all the types of theft analysed. Overall, theft was more prevalent at night and less frequent during winter, which is congruent with previous literature and the routine activity theory. Being the first case study in Porto city, Portugal, this research may be of extreme importance for both designing prevention and intervention policies in the area, and for inspiring future research on a criminal time analysis.

Intersection between Justice-Involved Youth Personality Profiles and Criminal Risk-Need Patterns

To purpose of the current study was to inform system level decision-making about the value of integrating clinically relevant personality information with criminogenic need risk appraisal in justice-involved youth. Using a Canadian sample of youth referred for court-ordered psychological assessments (N = 201, M age=15.62 years; 70% male), we examined the patterns of association and differentiation between youths’ Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI) criminogenic need/risk profiles with personality profiles derived from the personality scales of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI, Millon, Millon adolescent clinical inventory. National Computer Systems, 1993). Specifically, latent profile analysis identified four MACI based personality profiles: externalizing, internalizing, dependent/followers, and complex dysregulated personality profiles. These groups varied significantly on YLS/CMI risk-need profiles. Although both externalizing and complex dysregulated sub-types represented higher criminal risk, their intervention needs diverged meaningfully. These results provide insight into the heterogeneity of justice-involved youth and point to the need for system resources that allow for appropriate intervention matching to maximize the goal of recidivism risk reduction in youth.

Heterogeneity in trajectories of cybercriminals: A longitudinal analyses of web defacements

Longitudinal criminological studies greatly improved our understanding of the longitudinal patterns of criminality. These studies, however, focused almost exclusively on traditional types of offending and it is therefore unclear whether results are generalizable to online types of offending. This study attempted to identify the developmental trajectories of active hackers who perform web defacements. The data for this study consisted of 2,745,311 attacks performed by 66,553 hackers and reported to Zone-H between January 2010 and March 2017. Semi-parametric group-based trajectory models were used to distinguish six different groups of hackers based on the timing and frequency of their defacements. The results demonstrated some common relationships to traditional types of crime, as a small population of defacers accounted for the majority of defacements against websites. Additionally, the methods and targeting practices of defacers differed based on the frequency with which they performed defacements generally.

‘Indirect Method of Proof’ and the Kuwaiti Anti-Money Laundering Law: A Lesson from the UK

The money laundering offence (ML offence), as established by the Kuwaiti Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 106/2013 (“AML/CFT Act”), has the potential to combat financial crimes. The broad definition of ‘proceeds of crime’ and the ‘all crimes’ approach adopted in the AML/CFT Act are two features that help the ML offence to do so. In relation to Kuwait, where the problem of public corruption is a common, prevalent pattern of criminality, the ML offence becomes of paramount importance. Corruption can be effectively combated by the ML offence. Using the indirect method of proof, the ‘stand-alone’ ML offence can do the trick. Yet, the ML offence is underused by Kuwaiti practitioners; it is used as a secondary, additional charge. In this context, this paper builds on public policy work on ‘policy transfer’ and argues that rather than being a rational response to a real problem, the AML/CFT Act has been transferred to Kuwait based on a ‘coercive transfer’, and that process is responsible for the misapplication and misunderstanding among Kuwaiti practitioners of the AML law. To that end, the Kuwaiti law enforcement authorities, prosecutors, and judges should reconsider their understanding and implementation of the existing AML law, and effectively harness the role of the ML offence in counter-corruption function. This paper’s thesis is a feasible one. Instead of calling for legislating for new laws, which may be stunted by broader political factors, this paper argues for employing existing legal instruments.

Assessment of delinquenci to adolescents

This article presents data from the research on the personality development of delinquent adolescents, conducted on a sample of 210 adolescents. Adolescent delinquency comes from a combination of various and varied factors. An effective tool in detecting delinquent behavior and problematic personality traits specific to the criminal pattern streamlines work against the ever-increasing crime among young people. This article presents the results investigated by the Hart and Hare model in 1994. PCL-R provides a dimensional score, which represents the degree to which a particular person fits or does not fit the prototype personality with delinquent pattern. Thus, various correlations can be made with a series of other psycho-social factors that can influence the disharmonious and dysfunctional becoming with antisocial pattern of adolescents.

From Individual to Collective Thuggrery in Coastal Environment Semarang (from Dutch Colonial Period to Post Independence Revolution)

Semarang is one of the Dutch colonialisem and capitalist center from the 19th century to 19th the mid-20th centuries. This economic environment created a financial gap between the indigenous people and the foreign ones. Hence, crime emerged as a result of the hole. This study analyzes the criminal pattern that occurred in Semarang from the colonial period to the post-independence revolution—collecting and analyzing data using the historical method by four stages, namely heuristic, critics, interpretation, and historiography. The sources were from contemporary newspapers. The results show that there is a different criminal pattern from the colonial era to post-independence. Crime in the colonial period was individual-based. The crime scenes were on roads and markets, and the targets were the rich people regardless of ethnicity and nationality. On the other hand, criminal patterns in the post-independence era carried out in groups by robbing the houses owned by foreign people, such as Europeans or Chinese. Thus, the study concludes that the situation during the period influences the criminal pattern. The economy is the factor that triggered the crime during the colonial era. However, the anti-foreign movement caused crime activities during the post-independence period.

COVID-19 and criminality in Russia

At the present time, the global community is facing unprecedented development of a pandemic which has created a threat to internal and external security of countries. The COVID-19 containment policy helped minimize the negative consequences of governmental, social, information, environmental and economic nature and, to a greater extent, negative effects on personal safety. The authors consider Russian and foreign researches on the issue of qualitative and quantitative assessment of the negative effects of the deadly virus. The detected trends and patterns of criminality in Russia in the period of the pandemic will help develop effective measures for the prevention of delinquencies. The system approach used for explaining the dynamic rates of transformation of criminality deserves high attention. Besides, the authors use the comparative-legal, the logic-legal and the statistical research methods. The main result of the research is the analysis of the state of criminality in Russia in the period of lockdown. The detected positive and negative indicators are explained in terms of changed circumstances. Special attention is given to criminal activities involving information technologies in the context of their duplication. All the above mentioned factors require urgent steps to be taken aimed at the prevention of delinquencies involving information and telecommunication technologies. A comprehensive approach is needed along with a prompt response aimed at the prevention of mass victimization of vulnerable segments of the population.