By blurring the boundary between art and financial assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have created regulatory ambiguity and criminogenic vulnerabilities in digital markets. The article applies the Howey Test to an original dataset of NFT-related cases that involve financial crime. As it turns out, functionally NFTs often resemble securities: they are characterized by information asymmetries, speculative dynamics, and weak oversight. These structural gaps make NFTs attractive to facilitate fraud, money laundering, wash trading, and nefarious exploitation on decentralized platforms and incidentally by way of traditional auction houses. NFTs highlight systemic limitations of analog regulatory frameworks to contain criminogenic risk posed by virtual assets. To enhance transparency, accountability, and consumer protection in evolving digital economies, the article concludes on a paradigm shift toward an adaptive, outcomes-based regulatory approach.
Punitive policy approaches toward individuals convicted of sexual offenses (ICSOs) remain popular despite limited evidence of their effectiveness. Science communicators face substantial challenges in shifting public opinion on these issues, and prior research suggests that advocating for less punitive but more effective policies can undermine perceived expert credibility. This study reports results from a survey experiment with U.S. adults examining whether experts’ use of empathetic in-group qualifiers mitigates credibility losses and increases belief in their claims. Bayesian structural equation models indicate no systematic effects of qualifier use on credibility or belief, underscoring persistent barriers to communicating about stigmatized justice populations.
Frontline-administrator misalignment in general evaluations of health can undermine efforts to improve correctional officer well-being. This study examined optimization bias in correctional leadership—administrators’ overestimation of officer well-being. Using paired surveys from ( n = 308) officers and ( n = 104) administrators, cross-role perceptions regarding relational access and well-being revealed disparities between both groups. For example, all administrators indicated staff could approach them when experiencing problems, whereas only 31.9% of officers felt the same. Administrators also rated staff physical health higher than officers. Additional discrepancies concerned health interventions, with administrators favoring communication-based programs, while officers emphasized structural conditions as conduits to improved well-being. Strategies to align these perceptual outcomes are proposed in light of these findings.
The objectives of this study were to analyze the prevalence of firearm safety training and secure gun storage practices among American gun owners. We used nationally-representative survey data to estimate the impact of previously untested predictors of secure firearm storage. Findings show that older gun owners, gun owners living in metropolitan statistical areas, and low-SES gun owners are less likely to use secure firearm storage methods. Gun owners who receive formal, informal, or both forms of safety training are more likely to store firearms securely than those who receive no training. Additionally, results indicate that state-level secure gun storage laws have little influence on gun owners’ use of mechanisms to securely store their firearms. Findings suggest that firearm safety training has a demonstrable impact on improving gun owners’ use of secure firearm storage mechanisms.
This study examines the relationship between community incarceration rates and medical debt in the United States using annual county-level data from 2012 to 2019. We account for stable and varying county-level dynamics through fixed effects regression models with controls for demographics, socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, health, and crime rates. Nationally, we find increased incarceration is associated with reduced median medical debt and has no effect on the share of the population with medical debt, but we find that these patterns vary by racial and ethnic composition. Non-white communities experience worsening medical debt as incarceration rises while white communities do not. Our results suggest incarceration has a complicated relationship with medical debt and is detrimental for communities of color.
Housing is a critical reentry domain, with research demonstrating the challenges faced in securing stable housing and the impact housing has on recidivism. In Pennsylvania, the focal state of this research, approximately one-third of state prison releasees are placed in halfway houses, unable to procure a parole-approved homeplan. Halfway houses increase reincarceration risk in Pennsylvania, yet research has not adequately examined resident experiences. This research utilizes in-depth interviews of male reentrants with substance use disorders living in halfway houses post-release ( n = 20). Findings demonstrate increased recidivism risk through exposure to illicit substances within the facility. Other themes include barriers to reintegration, bureaucratic frustrations, and heightened surveillance as a source of recidivism risk. Combined, respondent experiences highlight critical areas for reform.
Prior research showed that willingness to change is an important predictor to enhance the desistance process. The aim of the current study was to examine how perceptions of procedural justice might promote individuals’ willingness to change. Based on two waves of data from the SVORI-project, a sample of 667 people on community supervision were followed over time. The findings demonstrate that procedural justice is positively associated with willingness to change. Furthermore, the findings show an indirect positive effect from perceptions of procedural justice at T1—via subsequent perceptions at T2—to willingness to change at T2. These findings provide tangible evidence to support the role of officers in facilitating individuals’ change process by treating them in a procedurally just manner.
This study examines how drug use is situated within relationships between sex market facilitators and individuals who sell sex. Based on interviews with 61 facilitators in New York City and Chicago, we analyze how drugs function within interpersonal dynamics rather than as isolated tools of coercion or individual risk. Using coded interview data and multidimensional scaling, we identify three relational configurations: intimate, controlling, and depersonalizing. In intimate arrangements, drug use reinforces relational ties within shared networks. In controlling arrangements, facilitators create reliance and shape compliance. In depersonalizing arrangements, drugs regulate performance and maximize productivity. These findings suggest that drug use operates as a relational mechanism that varies across interpersonal contexts, organizing power and dependency within relationships.
Fatal violence against the transgender community has been declared an epidemic by the American Medical Association, yet remains understudied. This study examines the unique correlates for transgender homicide and compares them to general homicides using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System and the Tracking Transgender Homicide in America database. The primary analytic sample includes 24,664 general homicides and 314 transgender homicides. Findings reveal that transgender victims are more likely to be younger, female, and racial minorities. Interaction effects show elevated risks in cases involving male offenders and victims who are women. These results emphasize the need for targeted interventions and inclusive policies to address the specific vulnerabilities faced by transgender individuals.
Research has consistently revealed a link between involvement in adolescent delinquency and adult criminal behavior. Even so, there remains much that is unknown about this association, including the potential mechanisms that might explain it. The current study sought to add to this literature by examining the connection between being arrested as a juvenile and future self-reported involvement in adult criminal behavior. To do so, we analyzed data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We employed propensity score matching analysis to examine whether participants who were arrested as juveniles had significantly different mean scores on measures of crime (violent, nonviolent, and total) at two different points in adulthood when compared to matched controls. The results of these analyses revealed that participants who had been arrested as a juvenile self-reported greater involvement on four of the six crime measures compared to matched controls although these mean differences were attenuated once participants were matched on key covariates, including adolescent delinquency, low self-control, delinquent peers, and neuropsychological functioning, among others. We discuss the interpretation of these results and draw attention to the role that labeling may play in accounting for the link between juvenile arrests and adult criminal involvement.
Fraud results in billions of losses each year. While research has examined fraud victimization risk, it is less clear how online routine activities are associated with fraud risk, and how gender differentially influences risk. Using a sample of Michigan-based respondents (n = 1,203), and subsamples of men (n = 570) and women (n = 633), the study assessed the association between routine activities and fraud victimization. Results suggested that online behaviors relating to gaming and social media usage were associated with risk of fraud victimization, and that the correlates of risk varied by gender. Online platforms related to these behaviors can provide education about present threats and security practices which can provide further guardianship to victimization. Fraud refers to a broad range of activities characterized by deception and misrepresentation of the truth for the purposes of either securing an advantage or disadvantaging others. Fraud is one of the most widespread forms of crime in the United States, with recent estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey Supplemental Fraud Survey (NCVS-SFS) suggesting that approximately 3 million adults experienced fraud in the United States in 2017, resulting in approximately $3.2 billion in losses.
Correctional officers (COs) face high rates of workplace violence compared to other professions. Yet, research remains limited about how COs’ responses to working in unpredictable carceral environments relate to victimization. Using self-report data from COs working in male facilities in a Southern state prison system ( N = 253), we examine the relationship between role responses and threats and physical assaults. Results showed that depersonalization, corruption, and erosion of authority were positively associated with threats, while counter workplace behaviors revealed a negative association. Although role responses were not directly associated with assaults, COs who were threatened had greater odds of being assaulted. Various demographic and occupational controls were also related to both outcomes. Findings fill key knowledge gaps and inform safety interventions.
This study advances the argument that criminological analysis requires greater crime specificity, emphasizing the need to define and study offenses at finer levels of distinction. We propose a four-level classification framework to organize crime data from broad legal categories to target-specific forms. Using 8,706 metal theft incidents in Louisville, Kentucky (2011-2016), the analysis shows that disaggregating metal theft into target-specific forms (e.g., air conditioners, catalytic converters, copper wiring) reveals temporal and spatial variations invisible in aggregate data analysis. These differences illustrate how greater empirical specificity can sharpen theoretical understanding and promote more prevention. The framework is adaptable to other crime types, offering a scalable model for refining criminological theories, improving data systems, and informing targeted interventions.
Airport security involves one of the most ubiquitous identity checks individuals face, and yet there is very little research devoted to the experiences of transgender (trans) people with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). This study attempts to examine the broad experiences of individuals who identify as trans with TSA. It uses the U.S. Transgender Survey (2015) data to gain a better understanding of what interactions members of the trans/non-binary community TSA entail and to what extent physical presentation impacts those experiences. Further, this study uses item response theory-based analysis to better characterize the commonality and severity of experiences trans individuals are exposed to, particularly when their physical appearance reads as ambiguous. Implications for future research and policy regarding gender-affirming care are considered.
This study evaluated a police intervention programme implemented in Israeli educational residential youth villages for at-risk juveniles. Using a quasi-experimental design, the study compared two matched groups of 118 youths, one enrolled in a police programme and the other in alternative interventions, to assess whether police legitimacy and social resistance mediated the relationship between programme type and self-reported delinquency. The results showed that police legitimacy, but not social resistance, partially mediated this relationship. Youth participating in the police programme reported higher levels of police legitimacy, which were associated with reduced delinquent behaviour. These findings suggest that residential police-youth interventions may strengthen legitimacy and contribute to delinquency reduction among at-risk juveniles in residential care, where culturally appropriate and institutionally feasible.
This special issue examines online financial crime and global responses, bringing together 10 empirical studies from diverse disciplines. As digital technologies reshape financial systems, offenses such as online fraud, identity theft, ransomware, and cryptocurrency-related crime have expanded in scale and complexity, generating significant harm. The contributions analyze offender behavior, victimization patterns, and guardianship across digital environments using varied data and methods. Guided by the Routine Activity Theory, this special issue brings together studies that demonstrate how offenders exploit technological systems, how individuals and organizations become vulnerable, and how institutional and technological controls influence prevention. Collectively, the findings highlight the transnational and adaptive nature of cyber-enabled financial crime and emphasize the need for integrated prevention, enforcement, and regulatory strategies.
Societal and legal responses to adolescent sexual offending are often punitive rather than developmentally informed, assuming that adolescents who have sexually offended (AHSO) pose a high risk of sexual recidivism. This study examined long-term outcomes of 351 AHSO (aged 12-18 years) assessed in an outpatient forensic setting. Follow-up averaged 22 years, with participants reaching a mean age of 37. Overall, 62.4% reoffended, primarily for property (45.0%), justice administration (43.9%), or nonsexual violent offenses (40.7%). Sexual recidivism was far less frequent (13.4%), occurring mainly in the early years and stabilizing at low levels. Survival analyses indicated that while sexual recidivism plateaued, nonsexual reoffending showed more sustained patterns over time. These findings challenge assumptions about enduring sexual risk among AHSO and call into question the proportionality of lengthy, restrictive sanctions.
This study tests the General Theory of Crime (GTC) in Brazil, examining self-control and parenting practices as predictors of general and violent delinquency in a socially unequal context. Data from 1,909 adolescents (49.6% female, 48.3% male, and 2.1% non-binary; Mage = 15) were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicated that family bonding and parental monitoring significantly predicted self-control dimensions (impulsivity and risk-seeking control). Risk-seeking control was significantly associated with both general and violent offending. Family bonding showed a direct association with general offending, while parental monitoring was associated with both outcomes. Overall, findings highlight the relevance of family influence in fostering cognitive skills and regulating criminal behavior, partially supporting the GTC in the Brazilian context.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) individuals remain disproportionately vulnerable to stigma, discrimination, and violence, especially during societal crises. This study investigates the asymmetric impact of pandemic uncertainty on LGBTQ-targeted crimes across ten countries: USA, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Spain, New Zealand, Sweden, and Italy. Using the Quantile-on-Quantile method, the study explores country-specific patterns and finds a strong positive association between pandemic-induced uncertainty and LGBTQ-targeted crimes in most selected countries, but the findings are asymmetric because the strength, and in some cases the direction, of the relationship shifts across uncertainty and crime intensity levels. Cross-country differences in asymmetry underscore the need for nuanced, context-specific policies targeting high-risk periods when uncertainty shocks drive the sharpest increases in victimization.
Account takeover fraud involves cybercriminals using stolen credentials to access online accounts, with financial institutions often targeted due to their monetary value. Despite growing adoption, the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures like two-factor authentication (2FA) remains underexplored. This study evaluates 2FA as a target hardening strategy within the situational crime prevention (SCP) framework. Using a natural experimental design, we analyzed cyber threat intelligence from illicit markets between March 2021 and February 2022, during which three major Canadian banks implemented 2FA, two optionally and one mandatorily. Bayesian time series analysis revealed that mandatory 2FA significantly reduced the number of compromised bank accounts, whereas optional 2FA did not. These findings inform crime prevention policy and contribute to theoretical developments in cybercrime research.
