Criminology

What Makes Someone a Criminal?

February 22, 2012

Earlier today, Psych Central posted an interesting article entitled “Digging into Biological, Environmental Roots of Antisocial Behavior”. It describes some of Dr. Brian Boutwell’s research that looks at, not only environmental and biological factors, but also genetic causes leading to anti-social and criminal behavior. Dr. Boutwell is a Criminologist and an Assistant Professor at Sam [...]

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Does Violent Crime Increase During the Holidays?

December 20, 2011

Back in December, 1978, the Wilmington Morning Star (North Carolina) published an article entitled “Violent crime increases during Christmas season.” At the time, the local chief of police, Captain David Turner, stated that his law enforcementstaff had come to anticipate more violent crimes during the Christmas holidays. The article went on to describe that in [...]

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Virginia Tech Haunted by Gunman Once Again

December 10, 2011

Last night thousands attended a candlelight vigil at the Virginia Tech in light of the events from the preceding 48 hours. Earlier that day, an alleged gunman’s body was identified to be 22-year old Ross Truett Ashley, a student from nearby Radford University. On Wednesday, Ashley is suspected of going into a local real estate [...]

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Predictive Policing

November 5, 2011

On Wednesday (November 2), Keith Allen Boyd was detained on charges for allegedly carrying a firearm with the serial numbers scratched off and drugs. The arresting officer was patrolling the Front and Second Streets area of Santa Cruz based on information provided to him by a predictive policing program. The Santa Cruz Police Department began [...]

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