Agent-Based Simulation of Crime

Abstract

The effects of crime are diverse and complex, ranging from psychological and physical traumas faced by crime victims, to negative impacts on the economy of a whole nation. In this paper, an agent-based crime simulation framework to analyze crime and its causes is proposed and implemented. The agent-based simulation framework models and simulates both 1) crime events as a consequence of a set of interrelated social and individual-level crime factors, and 2) crime opportunities, i.e., combinations of circumstances that enable a person to commit a crime. The selection of crime factors and design of agent models are supported by, and based on, existing criminological literature. In addition, the simulation results are validated and compared with macro-level crime patterns reported by various criminological research efforts.