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1. Interactive Visualizations for Crime Data Analysis by Mixed Reality

   Sharma, S; Dronavalli, S; Chellatore, M; Pesaladinne, R (June 2024, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality. HCII 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

   Chen, JYC; Fragomeni, G eds (Ed.)

   Crime data visualization plays a key role in understanding and dealing with criminal activities. This paper focuses on the integration of mixed reality (MR) and crime data analysis. There are many barriers and challenges when developing MR three-dimensional (3D) environments for visualization and inspection. The main problem is the lack of commonly shared data structures and interfaces between them. The rise in crime rates over the past few years is a huge source of issue for police departments and law enforcement organizations. As the crime rates significantly changed throughout time, both upward and downward, these changes are then compared to external factors, such as population, unemployment, and poverty. There is a need for visualizing the multiple crime datasets in multiple states with external factors. This work proposes a novel interactive approach for loading crime datasets into the HoloLens 2 device and displaying them in a mixed-reality setting for data analysis. By allowing people to engage and analyze datasets in a 3D space, the suggested system seeks to close the gap between data analysis and machine learning. Users can import many datasets, such as spatial, category, and numerical data, into the HoloLens 2 device and interactively visualize crime data for different states simultaneously. The system offers user-friendly capabilities for interactive data visualization in mixed reality once the data has been imported. The dataset is manipulated and transformed by users, who can also rotate, scale, and position it in 3D. To depict various characteristics and dimensions of the data, the system also supports a variety of visual encoding techniques, such as color mapping, size scaling, and spatial layout with the use of the imported datasets and the HoloLens 2’s visualization capabilities, users can discover new insights and intricate linkages within the data. Natural movements and voice instructions allow users to engage with the visible data, enabling a hands-free and immersive data exploration experience. This paper also visualizes the crime data for four different cities: Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas, and Denton. Analyzing crime against factors such as population, employment, unemployment rate, and poverty rates provides information about the complex relationship between social factors and criminal behavior. The results and outcomes of this work will help the police department and law enforcement organizations better understand crime issues and supply insight into factors affecting crime that will help them deploy resources and help their decision-making process. 

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2. The Relationship Between Crime Rates and Socio-Economic Factors in Maryland

   Zenebe, Azene; Lakew, Nega; Obisesan, Ademola; Ponnala, Nitisha; Parker, Moriah (April 2025, National Association of Business, Economics and Technology)

   Sigmond, Norman C (Ed.)

   This study aims to find how crime rates in Maryland are connected to different socioeconomic elements. This study is focused on understanding how crime rates link up with factors like unemployment, household income levels, racial backgrounds, and the level of education people have. A quantitative analysis of state-level crime data from 2010 to 2020 was used; the study employs a comprehensive range of methods. Conducted a detailed picture through descriptive analysis, then reshaped data using log and square root transformations, and tested hypotheses with a t-test. The paper further examines the relationships between variables through a correlation matrix before applying ordinary least squares regression to predict outcomes. It has been discovered that areas facing more significant economic challenges seen through higher Unemployment rates and diminished earnings frequently show an uptick in crime. The examination highlights a strong link between unemployment and criminal behavior, especially in counties where families consistently earn less. Research highlights how vital education is by showing that when people achieve higher levels of education, they tend to commit fewer crimes. The study illuminates the intricate interplay between economic factors and criminal activities, offering invaluable insights for law enforcement agencies and policymakers. These insights can guide the development of effective strategies to combat crime; ultimately, the research deepens our understanding of how economic fluctuations significantly influence crime rates in Maryland. 

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3. Trojan Horse Technologies: Smuggling Criminal-Legal Logics into Healthcare Practice

   https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224231209445  

   Chiarello, Elizabeth (November 2023, American Sociological Review)

   In the throes of an intractable overdose crisis, U.S. pharmacists have begun to engage in an unexpected practice—policing patients. Contemporary sociological theory does not explain why. Theories of professions and frontline work suggest professions closely guard jurisdictions and make decisions based on the logics of their own fields. Theories of criminal-legal expansion show that non-enforcement fields have become reoriented around crime over the past several decades, but past work largely focuses on macro-level consequences. This article uses the case of pharmacists and opioids to develop a micro-level theory of professional field reorientation around crime, the Trojan Horse Framework. Drawing on 118 longitudinal and cross-sectional interviews with pharmacists in six states, I reveal how the use of prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs)—surveillance technology designed for law enforcement but implemented in healthcare—in conjunction with a set of field conditions motivates pharmacists to police patients. PDMPs serve as Trojan horse technologies as their use shifts pharmacists’ routines, relationships with other professionals, and constructions of their professional roles. As a result, pharmacists route patients out of the healthcare system and leave them vulnerable to the criminal-legal system. The article concludes with policy recommendations and a discussion of future applications of the Trojan Horse Framework. 

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4. Policing the California Outercity: Drivers of Police Spending in a Changing Metropolis

   https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spad050  

   Ross, Ángel Mendiola (October 2023, Social Problems)

   Abstract This paper explores the intersection of two major trends in the United States over the last forty years: a substantial investment in local law enforcement and the diversification of suburbia. While previous research on police spending has focused almost exclusively on large central cities, this study broadens this perspective to assess how these dynamics play out in outer-ring suburbs. I construct a unique panel dataset of over 200 California municipalities and find that the drivers of police spending vary across the metropolis in significant ways. Fixed-effects models that control for unobserved heterogeneity across place suggest that suburbs with growing shares of renters spend more on police. Elaborating on the concept of renter threat, I show how increases in renter households are associated with increases in police expenditures across a range of model specifications in suburbia. I point to suburban homeowner concerns about crime and property values as well as the history of racial exclusion in suburbia that is often couched in economic terms as potential explanations for these findings. Results point to the enduring role of police as a contemporary mechanism of both social control and inequality in California suburbs. 

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5. Spatiotemporal Patterns and Driving Factors on Crime Changing During Black Lives Matter Protests

   https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9110640  

   Zhang, Zhiran; Sha, Dexuan; Dong, Beidi; Ruan, Shiyang; Qiu, Agen; Li, Yun; Liu, Jiping; Yang, Chaowei (November 2020, ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information)

   null (Ed.)

   The death of George Floyd has brought a new wave of 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests into U.S. cities. Protests happened in a few cities accompanied by reports of violence over the first few days. The protests appear to be related to rising crime. This study uses newly collected crime data in 50 U.S. cities/counties to explore the spatiotemporal crime changes under BLM protests and to estimate the driving factors of burglary induced by the BLM protest. Four spatial and statistic models were used, including the Average Nearest Neighbor (ANN), Hotspot Analysis, Least Absolute Shrinkage, and Selection Operator (LASSO), and Binary Logistic Regression. The results show that (1) crime, especially burglary, has risen sharply in a few cities/counties, yet heterogeneity exists across cities/counties; (2) the volume and spatial distribution of certain crime types changed under BLM protest, the activity of burglary clustered in certain regions during protests period; (3) education, race, demographic, and crime rate in 2019 are related with burglary changes during BLM protests. The findings from this study can provide valuable information for ensuring the capabilities of the police and governmental agencies to deal with the evolving crisis. 

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