The Place Of Criminology In The Study Of Terrorism: Implications For Homeland Security

In this article, I intend to describe the history of terrorism, provide an explanation of some aspects of criminological theories related to the study of terrorism, and briefly articulate the link between criminology, terrorism, and homeland security. While criminology has made significant contributions in the understanding of crime in general, the literature on terrorism and homeland security by criminologists is still emerging. Arguably, this treatise calls for this void to be filled by criminologists, because terrorism and homeland security appropriately belong within the perimeters of criminology. This article employs the methodology of content analysis as used in social science research. It does not claim to settle all the budding and unsettled issues about criminology, terrorism, and homeland security today. The events of September 11, 2001 have proliferated different writings and theorizing about terrorism. Society has witnessed a surge in criminological interests in the area of the phenomenon of terrorism. However, prior to the tragedy of 2001, only some notable criminologists have examined the problem of terrorism (Georges-Abeyie 1980; White 1998; Smith 1994; Stohl 1988. While terrorism has been part of recorded humanity, and while it falls within the purview of criminology, academic criminology, prior to September 11, 2001, has not made the issue apposite to the components of criminology and criminal justice pedagogy. Today, scholars and social thinkers are awakened to focus on the phenomenon because terrorism can no longer escape criminological inquiry. Realizing this imperative theme, LaFree (2005) indicates recently that the literature on terrorism has significantly increased since the 1970s, but he insists that these studies have not been executed by criminologists or published in criminological journals. Indeed, terrorism has become such an irritant in the annals of governments and the academy that criminologists can no longer overlook it (Crenshaw 2001; 2003). As a result, many criminology programs are currently instituting and developing new courses on terrorism and homeland security. I firmly argue in this article that regardless of whether a distinction is made between terrorism and crime, terrorism, rooted in an ideology or not, should constitute an essential component of the discipline of criminology. After all, criminologists study white-collar crimes (Sutherland 1983), state crimes (Ross 2000; 2003), environmental crimes (Lynch et al. 2004a), the classics of American criminology (Gabbidon 1999b; Taylor-Greene and Gabbidon 2000; Young and Taylor-Greene 1995), counter-colonial criminology (Agozino 2003) and crimes of violence, such as serial and mass murders (Jenkins 1988). In order for criminology to make contributions to the knowledge of terrorism, the discipline ought to incorporate terrorism as part of the criminological enterprise. Although I will examine the important issue of homeland security and its connections to terrorism, I must first review the history of terrorism and the criminological theories that have been relevant in the understanding of terrorism and its deadly impact on society. This is important because with no theories as guides, then research might be conducted haphazardly and policies would have less credibility. However, before one can adequately articulate and formulate new ideas about the occurrence of terrorism, he or she must be sufficiently knowledgeable about its history. Additionally, a comprehension and application of the existing theoretical perspectives in the discipline necessitates—and augments—new dimensions and proper areas of explorations and theoretical rationalizations. It is important that criminologists develop theories that will explain terrorism. The good news is that some scholars have been avidly tackling the issue (see Crenshaw 2001; 2003; Mueller 2002; Abrams 2003; Rudasil and Moyer 2004; Weinzierl 2004; Gurr 1970; 1988; Onwudiwe 2001), utilizing different theoretical and methodological approaches

Corporate Security: Using knowledge construction to define a practising body of knowledge

Security is a multidimensional concept, with many meanings, practising domains, and heterogeneous occupations. Therefore, it is difficult to define security as a singular concept, although understanding may be achieved by its applied context in presenting a domicile body of knowledge. There have been studies that have presented a number of corporate security bodies of knowledge; however, there is still restricted consensus. From these past body of knowledge studies, and supported by multidimensional scaling knowledge mapping, a body of knowledge framework is put forward, integrating core and allied knowledge categories. The core knowledge categories include practise areas such as risk management, business continuity, personnel and physical security, and security technology. Nevertheless, corporate security also has interrelationships with criminology, facility management, safety, and law. Such a framework provides clear boundaries for the practising domain of corporate security, better reflects the security experts’ view of their practising domain, allows directed tertiary pedagogy, and presents what could be considered the scholarly area of Security Science

Criminal Justice Research Center Internship Program

IMPACT. 1: Field supervisors gain the research skills of some of OSU's most motivated and talented students -- 2. Students gain real-life research experience working on problems that impact public policy and agency operations -- 3. Faculty, students, field supervisors, and administrators work together for the mutual benefit of each's organization, and ultimately, the student as the university continues to be recognized by the professional community as a gold standard for scholarship, diversity and community engagement.OSU PARTNERS: Sociology/Criminology; Economics; Psychology; Actuarial Science; Math; Geography; Business; Public Affairs; National Security Studies; International Studies; Political Science; History; English; Women's Studies; Arabic; Spanish; French; Chinese; Journalism; Social Work; Agriculture; Pre-Law concentrationsCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (institutions and Ohio Parole Authority); Ohio Department of Public Safety; Ohio Office of Sustainability and Conservation; Franklin County Probation Dept.; Office of Criminal Justice Services; Ohio Public Defender; Ohio Department of Homeland Security; Columbus Police Department; Delaware County Sheriffs Office/Reentry; Ohio Department of Youth Services (probation and facilities); The Southern District of Ohio - US Probation Department; Ohio Department of Health; Ohio Emergency Management Agency/ Emergency Operations Center; Ohio Office of Homeland Security/Franklin County Homeland Security; Bureau of Criminal Investigation; Ohio State PatrolPRIMARY CONTACT: Christopher Yanai ([email protected])The Criminal Justice Research Center (CJRC) manages an innovative, interdisciplinary undergraduate internship program providing students with unique opportunities to gain real-world experience in the field of criminology, justice and law. The internship program was designed with the University mission and its goals in mind. That is, it provides unsurpassed student-centered learning experiences, addresses some of the world's most pressing problems, provides outreach and actively engages with community partners, and is based on sound resource stewardship. Students bring research skills to bear on pressing issues including the Innocence Program, human trafficking, crime control, mass incarceration, reducing criminal re-offending and policing

Cyber-crime Science = Crime Science + Information Security

Cyber-crime Science is an emerging area of study aiming to prevent cyber-crime by combining security protection techniques from Information Security with empirical research methods used in Crime Science. Information security research has developed techniques for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information assets but is less strong on the empirical study of the effectiveness of these techniques. Crime Science studies the effect of crime prevention techniques empirically in the real world, and proposes improvements to these techniques based on this. Combining both approaches, Cyber-crime Science transfers and further develops Information Security techniques to prevent cyber-crime, and empirically studies the effectiveness of these techniques in the real world. In this paper we review the main contributions of Crime Science as of today, illustrate its application to a typical Information Security problem, namely phishing, explore the interdisciplinary structure of Cyber-crime Science, and present an agenda for research in Cyber-crime Science in the form of a set of suggested research questions

Crime scripting: A systematic review

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.More than two decades after the publication of Cornish’s seminal work about the script-theoretic approach to crime analysis, this article examines how the concept has been applied in our community. The study provides evidence confirming that the approach is increasingly popular; and takes stock of crime scripting practices through a systematic review of over one hundred scripts published between 1994 and 2018. The results offer the first comprehensive picture of this approach, and highlights new directions for those interested in using data from cyber-systems and the Internet of Things to develop effective situational crime prevention measures

Governing cyber security through networks : an analysis of cyber security coordination in Belgium

While governments develop formal and informal structures or 'networks' to promote collaboration between governmental departments and agencies, there remains uncertainty on how to set up and develop cyber security networks. The latter is demonstrated when taking recent developments in the field of cyber security in Belgium into consideration. The 2012 decision to create the Belgian cyber security centre seems to entail a move towards a 'Weberian' hierarchical network coordination approach rather than the development of a cyber security network organisation. This article claims that - as the threats of cyber are becoming more complex - there is a growing need for governmental agencies to expand horizontal coordination mechanisms. From this follows, the growing demand for criminological research into the managerial aspects of cyber security networks. Generating knowledge on how to manage networks is required as the latter is not only decisive for the effectiveness and efficiency of cyber security networks but also contributes to the overall network cyber security governance

Governing cyber security through networks : an analysis of cyber security coordination in Belgium

While governments develop formal and informal structures or 'networks' to promote collaboration between governmental departments and agencies, there remains uncertainty on how to set up and develop cyber security networks. The latter is demonstrated when taking recent developments in the field of cyber security in Belgium into consideration. The 2012 decision to create the Belgian cyber security centre seems to entail a move towards a 'Weberian' hierarchical network coordination approach rather than the development of a cyber security network organisation. This article claims that - as the threats of cyber are becoming more complex - there is a growing need for governmental agencies to expand horizontal coordination mechanisms. From this follows, the growing demand for criminological research into the managerial aspects of cyber security networks. Generating knowledge on how to manage networks is required as the latter is not only decisive for the effectiveness and efficiency of cyber security networks but also contributes to the overall network cyber security governance

The commodification of security in the risk society

Expanding on the works of Beck and others on the growing business of risk, this paper examines the role of private industry in the creation, management and perpetuation of the world risk society. It observes that the replacement of the concept of security with risk over the past decades has permitted private firms to identify a growing range of unknown and unknown-unknown dangers which cannot be eliminated and require continuous risk management. Using the discourse of risk and its strategies of commercialized, individualized and reactive risk management, the private risk industry has thus contributed to the rise of a world risk society in which the demand for security can never be satisfied and so guarantees continuous profits

The when and where of an emerging crime type: the example of metal theft from the railway network of Great Britain

Metal theft has become an increasingly common crime in recent years, but lack of data has limited research into it. The present study used police-recorded crime data to study the spatial and temporal concentration of metal theft from the railway network of Great Britain. Metal theft was found to exhibit only weak seasonality, to be concentrated at night and to cluster in a few locations close to – but not in – major cities. Repeat-victimisation risk continued for longer than has been found for other crime types. These and other features appear to point to metal theft being a planned, rather than opportunistic, offence and to the role of scrap-metal dealers as facilitators