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Structure and dynamics of crime

Crime is ubiquitous and poses a real danger to modern societies. Recent advances in fields such as criminology, sociology, physics, computer science, mathematics, and police science have shown that criminal activities depend strongly on the underlying network of actors involved. In this sense, the application of network science to crime fighting has shown a great boom in the last few years, establishing a strongly interdisciplinary community, which has attracted attention not only from academia but also from law-enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide.

Network science has been reshaping the way we think and approach the criminal phenomenon from basic to applied analysis. In this regard, this special issue aims to collect innovative research on the networked structure and dynamics of crime, paving the way to a clearer data-driven understanding of criminality with potential applications to crime fighting.

Guest editors
Bruno Requião da Cunha, brunorequiao.brdc@gmail.com
Federal Police, Brazil and MACSI, University of Limerick, IrelandGisela Bichler, gbichler@csusb.edu
California State University, USALuiz G. A. Alves, lgaalves@northwestern.edu
Northwestern University, USAMarcos Oliveira, moliveira@tuta.io
GESIS, Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, GermanyToby Davies, toby.davies@ucl.ac.uk
University College London, UK


  3. Hacks are one of the most damaging types of cryptocurrency related crime, accounting for billions of dollars in stolen funds since 2009. Professional investigators at Chainalysis have traced these stolen funds...

    Authors: Daniel Goldsmith, Kim Grauer and Yonah Shmalo
    Citation: Applied Network Science 2020 5:22
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Many illicit markets are transnational in nature: illicit products are consumed in a country different from the one in which they were produced. Therefore, reconstructing the trafficking network and estimating...

    Authors: Cecilia Meneghini, Alberto Aziani and Marco Dugato
    Citation: Applied Network Science 2020 5:21
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Illicit wildlife trafficking poses a threat to the conservation of species and ecosystems, and represents a fundamental source of biodiversity loss, alongside climate change and large-scale land degradation. D...

    Authors: Felber J. Arroyave, Alexander M. Petersen, Jeffrey Jenkins and Rafael Hurtado
    Citation: Applied Network Science 2020 5:20
    Content type: Research Published on: