Marina Kelaidis

Bio: Marina Kelaidis is an academic researcher from Weber State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Airport security & Organised crime. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 42 citations.

Crime Rate Inference with Big Data

Abstract: Crime is one of the most important social problems in the country, affecting public safety, children development, and adult socioeconomic status. Understanding what factors cause higher crime is critical for policy makers in their efforts to reduce crime and increase citizens' life quality. We tackle a fundamental problem in our paper: crime rate inference at the neighborhood level. Traditional approaches have used demographics and geographical influences to estimate crime rates in a region. With the fast development of positioning technology and prevalence of mobile devices, a large amount of modern urban data have been collected and such big data can provide new perspectives for understanding crime. In this paper, we used large-scale Point-Of-Interest data and taxi flow data in the city of Chicago, IL in the USA. We observed significantly improved performance in crime rate inference compared to using traditional features. Such an improvement is consistent over multiple years. We also show that these new features are significant in the feature importance analysis.

Children's exposure to violence, crime, and abuse: an update

Abstract: This bulletin discusses the second National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV II), which was conducted in 2011 as a followup to the original NatSCEV I survey. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sponsored both surveys. The Crimes against Children Research Center of the University of New Hampshire conducted the NatSCEV I survey between January and May 2008. NatSCEV I represented the first comprehensive national survey of children's past-year and lifetime exposure to violence, crime, and abuse in the home, school, and community across children and youth from ages 1 month to 17 years. (For more information on NatSCEV I, see "History of the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence"). Children are exposed to violence every day in their homes, schools, and communities. Such exposure can cause them significant physical, mental, and emotional harm with long-term effects that can last well into adulthood. The Attorney General launched Defending Childhood in September 2010 to unify the Department of Justice's efforts to address children's exposure to violence under one initiative. Through Defending Childhood, the Department is raising public awareness about the issue and supporting practitioners, researchers, and policymakers as they seek solutions to address it. A component of Defending Childhood, OJJDP's Safe Start Initiative continues efforts begun in 1999 to enhance practice, research, training and technical assistance, and public education about children and violence. Under Safe Start, OJJDP conducted the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence, the most comprehensive effort to date to measure the extent and nature of the violence that children endure and its consequences on their lives. This is the first study to ask children and caregivers about exposure to a range of violence, crime, and abuse in children's lives. As amply evidenced in this bulletin series, children's exposure to violence is pervasive and affects all ages. The research findings reported here and in the other bulletins in this series are critical to informing our efforts to protect children from its damaging effects. This article was adapted from Finkelhor, D., Turner, H.A., Shattuck, A.M., and Hamby, S.L. 2013. Violence, crime, and abuse exposure in a national sample of children and youth: An update. JAMA Pediatrics 167(7):614–621.

Protective factors against child victimization in the school and community: an exploratory systematic review of longitudinal predictors and interacting variables

Abstract: Protective factors against the victimization of children and young people within the school and community environments (extrafamilial victimization) have received less attention than risk factors. To date, there has been no systematic review on protective factors. This systematic review therefore aimed to synthesize the prospective longitudinal research findings on the protective factors against extrafamilial victimization. A systematic search of multiple sources led to the identification of 19,053 studies. Following application of a predefined inclusion and quality assessment criteria, 13 studies exploring protective factors against peer victimization and exposure to violence were included in this review. Across these studies, 19 protective factors were explored: 9 individual factors and 10 contextual factors. Four studies also explored the impact of mediating and moderating variables on the relationship between predictors and extrafamilial victimization. Findings highlight inconsistencies in the definition and measurement of victimization, along with bias in a number of areas. Nevertheless, a small number of variables (perceptions of social competence, physical strength, and aggression) were identified as potential protective factors against extrafamilial victimization. Additionally, mediating and moderating variables were identified, and the interaction between individual and contextual protective and risk factors were highlighted. These findings are explored under the theoretical framework of the ecological systems theory and their practical and research-based implications are discussed.

On defining violence, and why it matters.

Abstract: Accurate definitions of phenomena are essential to any scientific enterprise. A definition of violence should be fully capable of accounting for the exclusion of behaviors such as accidents and self-defense, and the inclusion of behaviors such as child abuse, sexual offenses, and manslaughter. Violence research has produced numerous and sometimes conflicting definitions of violence that can be organized into 4 general camps: the exemplars approach, the social psychology approach, the public health approach, and the animal research approach. Each approach has strengths and limitations, but to fully distinguish violence from other behaviors requires incorporating elements from all of them. A comprehensive definition of violence includes 4 essential elements: behavior that is (a) intentional, (b) unwanted, (c) nonessential, and (d) harmful. More sophisticated recognition of some elements is needed. For example, shortened telomeres—a known consequence of child abuse—is a far more serious harm than a scratch or bruise that will fully heal in a few days. Many problems in the field are due at least in part to insufficient attention to definitions, such as minimization of sexual violence, bullying, and other behaviors that do not map onto prototypical exemplars. More precise definitions of violence can improve surveillance, promote more accurate identification of causes and consequences, enhance evaluation of treatment outcomes, and guide development of prevention programs, among other benefits.