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RESEARCH PRODUCT
The Phenomenology of Specialization of Criminal Suspects
Jerzy SarneckiChristofer EdlingFredrik LiljerosRosario N. MantegnaMichele TumminelloMichele Tumminellosubject
MaleEpidemiologylcsh:MedicineCommitCriminologySocial and Behavioral SciencesPhenomenology (philosophy)SociologySettore SECS-S/06 -Metodi Mat. dell'Economia e d. Scienze Attuariali e Finanz.PsychologyComplex Systems Networks Social Sciences Criminologylcsh:Sciencehealth care economics and organizationsSocial ResearchMultidisciplinarySystems BiologyApplied MathematicsComplex SystemsSocial NetworksSocial systemSocial Systemspopulation characteristicsFemaleCrimePsychologyAlgorithmsResearch ArticlePersonalitySocial theorySocial AnthropologyCrime and CriminologySocial TheoryViolent crimeSexual and Gender IssuesAge and genderCriminal InvestigationsSpecialization (functional)mental disordersHumansSocial StratificationBiologyDemographySwedenBehaviorPopulation Biologylcsh:RPerspective (graphical)Sociology (excluding Social Work Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)social sciencesSettore FIS/07 - Fisica Applicata(Beni Culturali Ambientali Biol.e Medicin)Social EpidemiologyComputational SociologyAnthropologylcsh:QLarge groupLawhuman activitiesMathematicsCriminal Justice Systemdescription
A criminal career can be either general, with the criminal committing different types of crimes, or specialized, with the criminal committing a specific type of crime. A central problem in the study of crime specialization is to determine, from the perspective of the criminal, which crimes should be considered similar and which crimes should be considered distinct. We study a large set of Swedish suspects to empirically investigate generalist and specialist behavior in crime. We show that there is a large group of suspects who can be described as generalists. At the same time, we observe a non-trivial pattern of specialization across age and gender of suspects. Women are less prone to commit crimes of certain types, and, for instance, are more prone to specialize in crimes related to fraud. We also find evidence of temporal specialization of suspects. Older persons are more specialized than younger ones, and some crime types are preferentially committed by suspects of different ages.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-08-09 |