dc.contributor.advisor | Stewart, Anna | |
dc.contributor.author | Birks, Daniel J | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-01-23T02:52:17Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-01-23T02:52:17Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2012 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.25904/1912/3030 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367327 | |
dc.description.abstract | This thesis demonstrates that agent-based modelling offers a viable compatriot
to traditional experimental methodologies for criminology scholars,
that can be applied to explore the divide between micro-level criminological
theory and macro-level observations of crime; and in turn, aid in the
assessment of those theories which aim to describe the crime event.
The following overarching research question is addressed:
Are the micro-level mechanisms of the opportunity theories generatively sufficient
to explain macroscopic patterns commonly observed in the empirical
study of crime?
Drawing on the approach of generative social science (Epstein, 1999), this
thesis presents a systematic assessment of the generative sufficiency of three
distinct mechanisms of offender movement, target selection and learning derived
from the routine activity approach (Cohen & Felson, 1979), rational
choice perspective (Clarke, 1980; Cornish & Clarke, 1986) and crime pattern
theory (Brantingham & Brantingham, 1978, 1981). An agent-based model
of offending is presented, in which an artificial landscape is inhabited by
both potential victims and offenders who behave according to several of the
key propositions of the routine activity approach, rational choice perspective
and crime pattern theory. Following a computational laboratory-based approach,
for each hypothetical mechanism studied, control and experimental
behaviours are developed to represent the absence or presence of a proposed
mechanism within the virtual population. | |
dc.language | English | |
dc.publisher | Griffith University | |
dc.publisher.place | Brisbane | |
dc.rights.copyright | The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. | |
dc.subject.keywords | Agent-based modelling | |
dc.subject.keywords | Criminological theory | |
dc.subject.keywords | Routine activity approach | |
dc.subject.keywords | Rational choice perspective | |
dc.subject.keywords | Crime pattern theory | |
dc.title | Computational Agent-Based Models of Offending: Assessing the Generative Sufficiency of Opportunity-Based Explanations of the Crime Event | |
dc.type | Griffith thesis | |
gro.faculty | Arts, Education and Law | |
gro.rights.copyright | The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. | |
gro.hasfulltext | Full Text | |
dc.contributor.otheradvisor | Townsley, Michael | |
dc.rights.accessRights | Public | |
gro.identifier.gurtID | gu1357093456832 | |
gro.source.ADTshelfno | ADT0 | |
gro.source.GURTshelfno | GURT1336 | |
gro.thesis.degreelevel | Thesis (PhD Doctorate) | |
gro.thesis.degreeprogram | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) | |
gro.department | School of Criminology and Criminal Justice | |
gro.griffith.author | Birks, Daniel J. | |