Dark web drug market participants (both buyers and vendors) face frequent disruptions that affect their access to marketplaces. While these disruptions vary in their duration and the actors involved, existing research has largely concentrated on closures by law enforcement. Recognising the broader range of disruptions experienced by participants is essential for understanding how dark web markets adapt and evolve. This paper presents a typology of dark web drug market disruptions, informed by the current literature, categorising disruptions along two key dimensions: the duration of the disruption (temporary versus permanent) and the actor involved (internal versus external) in the disruption. This typology provides a comprehensive framework for analysing how different forms of disruption may influence market participant decision-making processes and the resilience of illicit online drug markets. In doing so, the typology highlights how disruptions that differ in duration and origin may have varying implications for participant behaviour and market resilience.

Money mules are critical facilitators in the laundering of illicit goods and commodities, yet their operational behaviours remain underexplored in the Australian context. This study developed a crime script of money mules through a content analysis of court sentencing transcripts drawn from Australian courts. By examining procedural elements across 25 crime events, the research identified four overarching stages in money mule operations. These included recruitment, preparation, transactions, and rewards. Findings highlighted three primary script tracks through which money mules move illicit proceeds: non-monetary, decentralised finance (cryptocurrencies) and centralised finance (cash and bank transactions). This research contributes new knowledge about the modus operandi of money mules. The study findings provide the basis on which to develop important recommendations for more targeted and effective crime prevention strategies aimed at addressing a key facilitator of money laundering crimes. These strategies include increasing public awareness of money mule activities, improving financial literacy, and implementing technological safeguards. The study also identifies the range of relevant stakeholders and highlights the importance of their collaboration.

Using a sample of 145 men convicted for sexually assaulting a woman, we examined perceived risks and difficulties in the context of noncompleted and completed sexual offences against women to help further understand the decision-making process of individuals who commit those crimes and offer complementary insights from a prevention point of view. The participants were 29 years old on average. We looked at the individual’s accounts of their offending. First and foremost, the dominating response in regards to high ratings of difficulties in noncompleted offences was woman resistance. Second, intoxication was reported by participants to justify both high risk and the absence of risk during their offending. Third, participants who perceived no risk and completed a sexual offence against a woman further indicated, in almost half the cases, that they thought (or assumed) the woman had given her consent initially. Fourth, very few participants referred to environmental conditions when assessing the risks and difficulties of committing an offence. Lastly, the results are discussed in light of considerations for crime prevention.

This study applies crime script analysis (CSA) to a complex economic crime: donation-based tax evasion schemes and evaluates how actors involved in the scheme engage with crime opportunities. To do so, the study introduces a crime opportunity engagement framework drawing on business and white-collar crime scholarship. By combining CSA and the framework, the study identifies how different actors initiate, shape, and exploit crime opportunities across the crime commission process. Drawing on court files from 36 donation-based tax evasion schemes in Canada, a deductive thematic analysis was conducted to reconstruct a crime script and identify key scenes associated with donation-based tax evasion schemes. The analysis was then guided by the novel crime opportunity engagement framework, distinguishing opportunity takers, seekers and creators. Errors, that is, actions that lead to unexpected outcomes, committed by various actors throughout the script were also identified. The analysis revealed a donation-based tax evasion script composed of seven scenes organized into two tracks: a scheme relying on falsified donation receipts and a sophisticated scheme involving the creation of tax shelters and affiliated organizations. When looking at how actors engaged with crime opportunities across the script, most of them (investors, advisors and charitable organizations) acted either as opportunity takers or seekers. Only promoters in the more complex scheme acted as opportunity creators, assembling the organizational, legal, and procedural conditions necessary for the scheme to operate. Also, all promoters acted as opportunity brokers, enabling other actors to access and benefit from the schemes. Various situational prevention measures inspired by the crime script are discussed, many of which are related to errors committed by the involved actors. The findings show that crime opportunities in complex economic crimes are not only discovered or sought for. They can also be actively created and expanded by offenders. By combining CSA with an opportunity engagement framework, this study advances criminological theory by shifting the analytical focus from the mere presence of opportunities to how they are dynamically engaged with across crime scripts.

Objectives: This study presents a quasi-experimental evaluation of a specialized treatment program for young people in Australia who have committed sexual offences. Methods: Using administrative data from Queensland's Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support, the study examined 1489 young people processed for sexual offences between 2010 and 2024, 286 of whom were referred to and received treatment at a specialized service in the state. Covariate-adjusted and propensity scorebased methods, along with Cox regression analysis, were used to assess treatment effects on violent, non-violent, and sexual recidivism for 144 young people who received treatment from the service and 303 who did not. Results: Results indicate that treatment reduced overall recidivism by 34 %-44 %, with the greatest reductions observed in sexual recidivism (78 %-90 %). Conclusions: These findings support the effectiveness of specialized treatment for young people who have committed sexual offences. The implications of methodological decisions in quasi-experimental research designs with this population are also discussed.

The victim-offender interaction is an important part of violent incidents. However, very little research has examined how the actions of both parties' shape and influence the behavior of the other. While the offender's behavior and role in shaping the nature of the incident has received a large amount of attention, the corresponding influence of victim behavior is less understood. This study uses behavior sequence analysis to map victim-offender interactions during 149 cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, and physical assault (collectively referred to as physically assaultive crime) to understand how victim behavior shapes, and is shaped by, the offender during violent crime. By using the interpersonal circumplex-a probabilistic model of human behavior during social interactions-and its associated principle of complementarity to frame the analysis, the results emphasized the reciprocal influence a victim has on the offender. Results showed that while this dynamic mostly reflected other, non-violent, social interactions, key deviations in how victims responded to offenders may indicate that victims are not simply reacting to the offender but seeking their own ways to influence how the crime unfolds. These findings not only provide new insight into how physically assaultive crime unfolds but also have important implications for how we conceptualize a victim's role and agency during violence.

In this study, the goal is to develop a crime script based on an Australian sample of incarcerated offenders who offended in Youth-Serving Organisations (YSOs) to provide insights into preventing child sexual abuse in those organisations. First, the study generates and presents a detailed empirical crime script on how sexual offenders operate in YSOs. Second, consistent with the main purpose of developing crime scripts, the script is utilised as a framework to discuss how this knowledge can be utilised to develop or improve current practices within YSOs. The implications of the script for YSOs are discussed for prevention purposes.

Purpose: Based on the crime script approach, the main objective of this study was to identify steps involved in firearms trafficking in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Our analysis focused on actions performed by actors, facilitating conditions, obstacles and errors for each step of the firearms trafficking process. Method: A deductive thematic analysis was conducted to build the firearms trafficking script with 76 investigation files, conducted between 1996 and 2020, that were provided by the Quebec State Police. Results: Firearms trafficking included six steps: (1) preparation; (2) acquisition of firearms; (3) storage of firearms; (4) search for customers; (5) transaction; and (6) exit. Since each step can be completed with different actions, a total 1200 combinations of actions could be used to traffic firearms. Results also indicated that several actors were involved at different steps of the script such as suppliers, middlemen, and vendors. Unregulated tools (e.g., hydraulic press, mold), materials and components (e.g., steel sheets, barrels) facilitated the fabrication of private firearms, while advertising firearms on social media was an error made by some suspects. Conclusion: The dynamic and sequential nature of firearms trafficking was highlighted by our script analysis. Crime script analysis also proved to be a useful approach to predict potential crime displacement, plan program evaluation and implementation, and prioritize prevention measures involving multiple agencies.

The rise of the internet or, more specifically, of services offered and conducted online has led to a dramatic rise in frauds and scams. This study is a systematic review of the literature on the use of crime script analysis in the field of fraud facilitated by the internet to identify stages of the crime commission process across different forms of fraud and examine ways to disrupt those crimes. The scripts for different forms of fraud shared three common elements: communicating with the victim, recruiting enablers, and using money mules. These common elements suggest possible prevention measures. Future applications of crime scripts in the field of fraud and financial crime more broadly are discussed.

A growing facilitator of drug trafficking are dark net markets, which enable transactions between sellers and buyers of illicit drugs around the world. This study aimed to develop a crime script for drug importation into Australia and identify potential crime prevention points within the crime script. To achieve this, a content analysis of 18 Australian court sentencing transcripts was conducted. The final crime script consisted of five general steps taken by offenders (preparation, access, purchasing, receiving and storage) followed by three script tracks based on the purpose of importation (selling on the dark net domestically, selling offline and personal use). This study will contribute to the current knowledge of the crime commission process of buyers on the dark net by focusing on online and offline steps, and the importation in the Australian context. Through these insights, this study will conclude by looking at potential specific and tailored crime prevention measures.

This study uses script analysis in criminology to identify steps and actions performed by police officers during their encounters with individuals in crisis to obtain their cooperation peacefully. Data were collected from 130 police reports. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were respectively used to identify the main steps of police interventions and to estimate the effect of police actions on reactions from the person in crisis. A six-step script was identified: (1) receiving the emergency call; (2) arriving at the scene; (3) assessing the situation; (4) engaging with the person in crisis; (5) managing the situation; and (6) completing the intervention. During their interventions, officers use several techniques to obtain the cooperation of the person in crisis or de-escalate the crisis. Results indicate that support techniques (e.g., involving the person in finding a solution) lead to cooperation and permit effective de-escalation of the crisis. Conversely, individuals in crisis were less likely to cooperate or calm down when the police used nonphysical (e.g., using threats, disapproving of the person’s behavior) or physical control techniques (e.g., using constraint or intermediate weapons). Measures likely to improve police interventions with individuals in crisis are discussed, using the script analysis as a framework.

This study used the interpersonal circumplex (IPC) - a probabilistic model of human behavior during social interactions - to conceptualize victim behavior during physically assaultive crime (domestic violence, physical assault, and sexual assault). Using data from the Australian Database of Victimisation Experiences, 101 victim behaviors were identified across a sample of 150 victim narratives. Categorical Principal Components Analysis and Smallest Space Analysis found that victim behavior during physically assaultive crime aligned with the IPC's four behavioral styles: dominance, submissive, hostility, and cooperation. These findings provide new opportunities to explore victim agency including how victims may influence the offender and situation.

The development of online technologies in recent decades has led to the proliferation of the distribution, consumption, and sale of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online. This trend has arguably also contributed to the sexual abuse of children offline. In this context, many organizations, including financial institutions and police agencies, have invested human, financial, and technological resources to address this problem. Combining statistics on recent crime trends with data collected from online police investigators suggests the critical need for this phenomenon to be taken more seriously on a global scale. Using data obtained from interviews conducted with online CSAM police investigators across several Australian police agencies, this study presents a detailed view of what is needed to best support police work in this domain. The most frequent responses obtained from investigators grouped around three dimensions: (1) knowledge and skills related to the tools used during investigations, such as computers, information technology, the Internet, and legislations; (2) knowledge related to offenders, how they operate, and how investigators should interact with them virtually; and (3) mental health wellbeing of investigators.

Objectives: The current study aims to generate insights from sexual offenders on noncompleted sexual offences, that is, on offences that were stopped or discouraged. Methods: Using a sample of sexual offenders who initiated a sexual offence but were stopped or discouraged in action, which we refer to as noncompleted offences, we first examine which and how situational factors and internal states may affect their assessment of risks of apprehension and difficulties in this context. Second, we examine whether situational factors, internal states as well as perceived risks and difficulties can predict offence noncompletion. Linear and logistic regression models were estimated based on the type of offence (noncompleted sexual offences against women or children). Results: Main findings indicate that victim physical resistance is critical for how sex offenders are perceiving difficulties related to offending against women. The presence of a person nearby and victim resistance are predictive of noncompletion of sexual offences against children. Conclusion: This is a critical line of research because knowledge on the factors and circumstances that can discourage or stop offenders from committing crimes can be used by scholars and practitioners to think of prevention initiatives to reduce opportunities of crime.

This review synthesises empirical studies from the past decade investigating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) production and distribution to gain insight into crime commission processes involved in these crimes. The findings highlight overlaps in risk factors for child sexual abuse and CSAM production and distribution, and possible unique risk factors specific to the latter. A substantial amount of CSAM is produced in family contexts, and there are different motivations and strategies for producing CSAM. Taken together, the findings provide important foundational information about the variety of crime commission processes involved in CSAM production and distribution, helping the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies for this increasingly prolific type of crime.

The development of online technologies in recent decades has facilitated the distribution and consumption of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) over the internet, which also led to the emergence of CSAM on the darknet—the segment of the internet hidden from the general public. Using data obtained from interviews with online investigators, this study uses crime script analysis to reconstruct step-by-step how offenders operate on the darknet. The findings highlight the three phases of the script: (1) the crime set-up phase, (2) the crime completion phase, and (3) the crime continuation phase. Scripting is a practical method of developing concrete ways to address this problem. The implications of using crime scripts to fight CSAM are discussed.

We welcome the opportunity to provide a written submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement’s inquiry into law enforcement capabilities in relation to child exploitation. This submission is informed by the authors’ recently completed research into Boosting Crime Prevention and Crime Detection Capabilities of Online Investigators: A Script Analysis of Creation and Distribution of Child Exploitation Material, a research grant funded by the Australian Institute of Criminology as part of the Child Sexual Abuse Material Reduction Research Program. In various sections of this submission we draw on our research findings from this project including: a systematic review of crime commission processes in child sexual abuse material production and distribution (Cale, Holt, Leclerc, Singh, & Drew, 2021); a review assessing the challenges affecting the investigative methods to combat online child exploitation material offences (Holt, Cale, Leclerc, & Drew, 2020); a report examining how child sexual abuse material offenders operate on the Dark Web (Leclerc, Drew, Holt, & Cale, 2021a; Leclerc, Drew, Holt & Cale, 2021b), and a study providing evidence on training and support needed to combat child sexual exploitation online (Leclerc, Cale, Holt & Drew, in preparation).

The current study explores the way guardianship is perceived by offenders and the extent to which it affects the likelihood of disruption in sexual offences against adult females. Specifically, we compare the micro-situational contexts in which sexual offences against adult females are disrupted to those in which these offences are completed. Data on sexual crime events was collected from 138 adult males who were incarcerated for committing a sexual offence against a woman using a self-report questionnaire incorporating a crime-script framework. We found that the presence or availability of a guardian does not guarantee offence disruption. Rather, action taken by the guardian is the critical factor which determines a sexual offender’s decision to cease the offence.

This study identifies the first crime script for unsolved stranger sexual offenses against women. The purpose is to better understand the crime-commission process of solved and unsolved stranger sexual offenses and identify potential points of intervention for prevention purposes. Crime script analysis was performed on 542 solved ( n = 265) and unsolved ( n = 277) cases based on police data in Queensland, Australia, followed by a comparison between solved and unsolved crime scripts. Results showed that unsolved offenses tended to be associated with the following factors: the offender fleeing/desisting, using minimal force, less intrusive sexual outcomes, and less verbal engagement with the victim. In these cases, there was a lack of information regarding forensic evidence, behavioral clues, and eyewitness leads. This highlights the relevance of focusing on situational crime prevention and policing strategies that may deter stranger sexual crimes at the earliest stages of the script.

This study examined the perceived effectiveness of situational crime prevention (SCP) in sexual assault as rated by 140 offenders convicted for sex offenses against women in Australia. Participants were presented with three scenarios and asked to rate the perceived effectiveness of SCP techniques relating to guardianship, victim self-protective behavior, and crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). Results indicate that the effectiveness of SCP methods was perceived to vary across different contexts. For offenses occurring in the private setting of an offender’s home, victim self-protective behavior was seen as most effective, followed by guardianship and CPTED. In public settings, although the perceived effectiveness of victim self-protective behavior remained the same, guardianship and CPTED were rated as significantly more effective. Further variations were identified regarding specific strategies. Findings highlight the nuances of offender decision making in different situations and environments, and provide the first empirical comparisons of SCP perceptions among sex offenders.