Criminal Justice
1 A Spatial Analysis of Neighbourhood Crime in Omaha, Nebraska Using Alternative Measures of Crime Rates
The research focuses on four kinds of crime and their spatial patterns. The crimes studied are: a) robbery, b) assault, c) burglary, and d) auto theft. Geographic information system or GIS procedures were used to correlate the occurrence of these crimes with the characteristics of a neighbourhood in the City of Omaha, Nebraska. Ordinary least square methods were also employed. For alternate measures of the crime rate, crime density and crime location quotients were deduced. There research yielded three vital results. To begin with, the findings showed that the rationalization behind the use of official crime rates is unreliable. Secondly, although location quotient may reveal the prevailing kinds of crime in common urban neighbourhoods, it does have sufficient scope for statistical analysis. Through this investigation, the researchers were able to find that, against the common belief, neighbourhoods with high crime rates had a diverse profile whereas it was the neighbourhoods with low crime rates that showed signs of a specific crime profile. Finally, the spatial intensity of crime as highlighted by crime density proves to be a more accurate indicator of the level of crime in a neighbourhood when compared to location quotients and standardized population crime rates.
The paper is aimed at providing a new perspective on the understanding of the impact of geographic characteristics of neighbourhood crime. Further, it challenges the routine activity social disorganization theory by utilizing methods that differ from the commonly used crime rates. By using the LQC and OLS regression methods, the researchers are able to provide further proof of the validity of theories. The paper finally reviews policies developed to map neighbourhood crime as well as improving the enforcement of laws pertaining to intervention. The paper is well structured, making it easy for a reader to follow the thesis and the arguments of the researchers. The authors comprehensively cover the thesis that they have proposed, providing sufficient proof for their hypothesis. They are able to effectively analyze the results of their study, and the conclusions drawn are well reasoned. However, while the research addressed the geographic localization of crime, it does not sufficiently explore the interaction of this aspect of crime with other influencers. Should this factor also be taken into consideration, the article would be better rounded.
2 The Evolutional View of the Types of Identity Thefts and Online Frauds in the Era of the Internet
Over the past few decades, the use of the internet has grown at lightning speed with almost every function of day to day life being linked ‘online’. Organizations, governments, institutions as well as individuals, all rely on the internet to perform several key tasks. This would include data storage, banking, education, entertainment as well as online socializing. While the internet and its integration into day to day functions has made the execution of tasks much easier, faster and efficient, it has also led to the development of a now segment of crime – cyber crime. Identity theft and online frauds are two such crimes that are commonly committed using the internet and it is this segment of cyber crime that forms the focus of this article.
The purpose of the article is to track the development of identity theft over the years and note the expansion in the versatility of this crime. The authors begin with a discussion on how an ‘individual’ is defined in the cyber world. As the existence of a person online varies immensely from their existence in the flesh and bone world, this is an important discussion to understand how crime can impact a person’s online identity too. The concept of identity theft is then defined and explained in detail, including the various types of identity thefts that held predominance in the past and the more recent forms of online frauds. Through this discussion, the authors aim to provide readers with a better understanding of the scope of identity theft and online fraud and the many ways in which they can impact the individual. The authors then move on to an in-depth discussions on the various methods of identifying theft and fraud in the cyber world. Again, this is an important segment as it gives readers a fair idea on the means available to know when and how their online identity is being targeted.
Finally, the authors close the article with suggestions on how online identities can be better protected and fraud controlled. While the authors provide a fairly rounded discussion on the various aspects of cyber crime, their motive seems to be the provision of general, pre-existing information, in a single document. As such, the paper does not offer any new findings attained through a study, but consolidates the findings of pre-existing studies, making this paper an empirical study. Further, the discussion of the sub-sections is limited, giving an overview of the topic but not in-depth detail. Also, although the authors note the means of protecting one’s online identity, the paper would have been better rounded if a section on cyber laws pertaining to identity theft and internet fraud were also covered.
Works Cited
Wang, S.-Y. K. (2011). The Evolutional View of the Types of Identity Thefts and Online Frauds in the Era of the Internet. Internet Journal of Criminology .
Zhang, H., & Peterson, M. P. (2007). A Spatial Analysis of Neighbourhood Crime in Omaha, Nebraska Using Alternative Measures of Crime Rates. Internet Journal of Criminology , 1-31.
