Journey to Cybercrime and Crime Opportunity: Quantitative Analysis of Cyber Offender Spatial Decision Making

Due to the advantage of using the Internet, cybercriminals can reach target(s) without border controls. Prior research on criminology and crime science has largely been void of empirical studies on journey-to-cybercrime and crime opportunity. Thus, the purpose of this study is to understand more about cyber offender spatial decision making associated with crime opportunity factors (i.e., co-offending, offender-stranger). Data utilized in this study were derived from 306 U.S. Federal court cases of cybercrime. The findings of this study indicated that there was a positive relationship between co-offending and journey-to-cybercrime, whereas there was no link between offender-stranger and journey-to-cybercrime. Also, the results showed that there was no relationship between cybercriminal sex, age, and journey-to-cybercrime. The policy implications and limitations of this study are discussed.





References:
[1] W. L. Marshall, and H. E. Barbaree, “An integrated theory of the etiology of sexual offending,” in Handbook of Sexual Assault , W. L. Marshall, D. R. Laws, and H. E. Barbaree Eds. Boston, MA: Springer, 1990, pp. 257-275.
[2] C. M. Earls, and W. L. Marshall, “The current state of technology in the laboratory assessment of sexual arousal patterns,” in I. R. Greer and J. G. Stuart Eds. The Sexual Aggressor: Current Perspectives on Treatment, New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983, pp. 336-362.
[3] C. G. Salfati, “The nature of expressiveness and instrumentality in homicide: Implications for offender profiling,” Homicide Studies, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 265-293, 2000.
[4] E. Beauregard, P. Lussier, and J. Proulx, “Criminal propensity and criminal opportunity,” in Criminal Profiling, R. N. Kocsis, Ed. New Jersey: Humana Press, 2008, pp. 89-113.
[5] L. I. Hadzhidimova, and B. K. Payne, “The profile of the international cyber offender in the US,” International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 40-55, 2019.
[6] R. L. Block, and C. R. Block, “Space, place and crime: Hot spot areas and hot places of liquor-related crime,”. Crime and place, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 145-184, 1995.
[7] D. V. Canter, and A. Gregory, “Identifying the residential location of rapists,” Journal of the Forensic Science Society, vol. 34, no. 3, 169-175, 1994.
[8] H. Jahankhani, and A. Al-Nemrat, “Examination of cyber-criminal behaviour,” International Journal of Information Science and Management (IJISM), pp. 41-48, 2012.
[9] S. Sarangi, and D. Youngs, “Spatial patterns of Indian serial burglars with relevance to geographical profiling,” Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 105-115, 2006.
[10] R. Jansen, and P. Van Koppen, “The road to robbery,” British Journal of Criminology, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 230-246, 1998.
[11] P. Grabosky, Keynotes in criminology and criminal justice series: Cybercrime. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
[12] L. Y. Chang, “Formal and informal modalities for policing cybercrime across the Taiwan Strait,” Policing and Society, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 540-555, 2013.
[13] M. Felson, and R. V. Clarke, “Opportunity makes the thief: Practical theory for crime prevention,” Police research series, paper 98, pp. 1-36, 1998.
[14] L. E. Cohen and M. Felson, “Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach,” American Sociological Review, vol. 44, pp. 588-608, 1979.
[15] A. N. Hewitt, J. Chopin, and E. Beauregard, “Offender and victim ‘journey-to-crime’: Motivational differences among stranger rapists,” Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 69, article 101707, pp. 1-10, 2020.
[16] R. T. Guerette, S. A. Santana, “Explaining victim self-protective behavior effects on crime incident outcomes: A test of opportunity theory,” Crime & Delinquency, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 198-226, 2010.
[17] D. W. Osgood, J. K. Wilson, P. M. O'malley, J. G. Bachman, and L. D. Johnston, “Routine activities and individual deviant behavior,” American Sociological Review, vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 635-655, 1996.
[18] M. Warr, “Crime and opportunity: A theoretical essay,” in The Process and Structure of Crime: Criminal Events and Crime Analysis, Advances in Criminological Theory series vol. 9, R. F. Meier, L. W. Kennedy, and V. F. Sacco, Eds. New York: Routeledge, 2001, pp. 65-94.
[19] P. L. Brantingham, and P. J. Brantingham, “Situational crime prevention in practice,” Canadian Journal of Criminology, vol. 32, pp. 17-40, 1990.
[20] D. K. Rossmo, L. Velarde, “Geographic profiling analysis: principles, methods and applications” in Crime Mapping Case Studies: Practice and Research, S. Chainey and L. Thompson Eds. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2008, pp. 35-43.
[21] R. Block, A. Galary, and D. Brice, “The journey to crime: Victims and offenders converge in violent index offences in Chicago,” Security Journal, vol. 20, no. 2, 123-137, 2007.
[22] D. Canter, and L. Hammond, “A comparison of the efficacy of different decay functions in geographical profiling for a sample of US serial killers,” Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 91-103, 2006.
[23] S. Back, J. LaPrade, and S. Soor, “Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Cyberattacks: Effective CYBERCRIME Prevention Strategies around the Globe,” International Journal of Protection, Security & Investigation, vol. 3, pp. 7-13, 2018.
[24] C. Morselli, and M. N. Royer, “Criminal mobility and criminal achievement,” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 4-21, 2008.
[25] R. V. Clarke, and D. B. Cornish, “Rational choice,” in Explaining Criminals and Crime: Essays in Contemporary Criminological Theory, in R. Paternoster and R. Bachman Eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 23-42.
[26] E. Beauregard, I. Busina, I. “Journey “during” crime: Predicting criminal mobility patterns in sexual assaults,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 28, no. 10, pp. 2052-2067, 2013.
[27] R. R. Hazelwood, and J. I. Warren, “Linkage analysis: Modus operandi, ritual, and signature in serial sexual crime,” Aggression and Violent Behavior, vol. 9, pp. 307–318, 2004.
[28] T. J. Holt, M. Kilger, “Examining willingness to attack critical infrastructure online and offline,” Crime & Delinquency, vol. 58, no. 5, pp. 798-822, 2012.
[29] R. Maness, B. Valeriano, and B. Jensen, “The dyadic cyber incident and campaign (DCID) dataset, version 1.5,” 2019. Retrieved from http://www.brandonvaleriano.com/uploads/8/1/7/3/81735138/dcid_1.5_codebook.pdf
[30] S. Back, “The cybercrime triangle: An empirical assessment of offender, victim, and place”, (Unpublished doctoral dissertation).
[31] R. M. Holmes, and S. T. Holmes, Profiling violent crimes: An investigative tool, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008.
[32] C. Flatt, and R. L. Jacobs, “Principle Assumptions of Regression Analysis: Testing, Techniques, and Statistical Reporting of Imperfect Data Sets. Advances in Developing Human Resources, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 484-502, 2019.
[33] T. J. Holt, D. Strumsky, O. Smirnova, and M. Kilger, “Examining the social networks of malware writers and hackers,” International Journal of Cyber Criminology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 891-903, 2012.
[34] A. E. Voiskounsky, and O. V. Smyslova, “Flow-based model of computer hackers' motivation,” CyberPsychology & Behavior, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 171-180, 2003.