Important Dates

Journal track paper:
submit now, max Apr 1, 2017


Paper submission (TT):
Apr 15, 2017 May 1, 2017

Paper acceptance (TT):
May 31, 2017

Camera-ready:
Jun 15, 2017


Doctoral Symposium & BAAI session:
Paper submission: Jun 15, 2017
Paper acceptance: Jul 15, 2017
Camera-ready: Jul 25, 2017


Discovery Challenge:
Predictions: Jun 1, 2017
Papers: Jul 8, 2017 Jul 31, 2017

Geometry Friends:
Aug 8, 2017


Conference:
Sep 5-8, 2017

Sponsors

LIACC APPIA

ABM4Crime – Agent-Based Modelling for Criminological Research

This workshop is sponsored by the Future Internet journal.

Background

Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, management, causes, control, consequences, and prevention of criminal behaviour. Traditional criminological research methods use interviews, register data, observations, or may employ vignette studies. In addition to these methods, Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) has recently emerged as an innovative method to study crime. The aim of this workshop is to discuss both the benefits and possible drawback of ABM as a tool for criminology, as well as to identify its most promising application areas.

Agent-based modelling takes existing knowledge from the social sciences as point of departure and tries to formalise this knowledge in dynamic computational models. Using the appropriate software these models can be used to simulate human behaviour: virtual scenarios that (dynamically) simulate behaviour over time. These types of computer simulations offer opportunities to develop innovative methods and tools to better understand, predict and possibly even prevent deviant behaviour. Example applications are predicting the spatio-temporal dynamics of residential burglary, explaining the behaviour of street robbers, or simulating aggression management strategies for training purposes in law enforcement.

Workshop Aim

This workshop is intended for Agent-Based Modellers who are interested in Criminology as a potential application domain for their models, as well as for Social Scientist with an interest in ABM as a tool to study criminological questions. Example questions that may be addressed during the workshop include the following:

  • What is the main added value of Agent-Based Models for the field of Criminology?
  • Should the models be used to explain, predict, and/or prevent delinquent behaviour?
  • What are the most promising application domains?
  • Which ABM tools and techniques are most suitable?
  • How much detail is required to study the above questions?
  • How to validate ABMs against empirical data?

Topics of Interest

  • agent-based simulation
  • verification of agent-based models
  • ABM tools and techniques
  • virtual agents
  • empirical validation
  • ABMs for policy making
  • ABMs for crime prediction

Application Areas of Interest

  • spatio-temporal dynamics of crime
  • terrorism and terrorist networks
  • crowd dynamics, aggression in crowds
  • street robbery, residential burglary
  • organized crime
  • juvenile delinquency
  • aggression de-escalation

Organizing Committee

Charlotte Gerritsen, NSCR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (contact person)
Tibor Bosse, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Corinna Elsenbroich, University of Surrey, United Kingdom

Program Committee

Daniel Birks, Griffith University Brisbane, Australia
Tibor Bosse, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Henk Elffers, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, the Netherlands
Corinna Elsenbroich, University of Surrey, United Kingdom
Vasco Furtado, University of Fortaleza, Brazil
Charlotte Gerritsen, NSCR, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Elizabeth Groff, Temple University, United States
Nicola Lettieri, INAPP – Italian National Institute for the Analysis of Public Policies, Italy
Lin Liu, University of Cincinnati, United States
Nicholas Malleson, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Klaus Troitzsch, University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany