SpringerLink
Log in

An Examination of Cyber-Systemic Regulation in Criminology Through the Lens of “Flows”

  • Published:
Critical Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Criminology has for some time considered the importance of “flows” in the commission of crime. This article argues that the practices of regulatory agents often fail to consider these flows—flows in information, assets, reputation or technology. Despite considering criminological flows as a discrete field of enquiry, scholars have failed to address what regulatory agents might do or impose on the system of flows to achieve their goals and outcomes. We propose an approach (grounded in the domain of cybernetics and systems studies) which fosters a collaborative and normative approach to bridging the gap when it comes to the criminology of flows, particularly in our increasingly interconnected and digitized future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Defined here as the “sustained and focussed attempt to alter the behaviour of others according to defined standards or purposes with the intention of producing a broadly defined outcome or outcomes”; (Black, 2002): 26.

References

  • Arrigo, B., Sellers, B. (eds.), The Pre-Crime Society: Crime, Culture and Control in the Ultramodern Age. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

  • Ashby, W.R. (1958). Requisite variety and its implication for the control of complex systems. Cybernetica, 1/2, 93-95.

  • Aliverti, A. (2015). Crimes of Mobility: Criminal Law and the Regulation of Migration. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amicelle, A., Cote-Boucher, K., Dupont, B., Mulone, M., Shearing, C., & Tanner, S. (2017). Criminology in the face of flows: reflections on contemporary policing and security. Global Crime, 18(3), 165-175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z., Lyon, D. (2013). Liquid Surveillance: A Conversation. Polity Press: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beer, S. (1994). Heart of the enterprise: reprint edition. John Wiley & Sons: New York.

  • Beer, S. (1967). Cybernetics and management: second edition. The English Universities Press: London.

  • Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., Müller-Seitz, G., Raab, J., & Sydow, J. (2017). From high-reliability organizations to high-reliability networks: the dynamics of network governance in the face of emergency. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 27(2), 352-371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, J. (2002). Critical Reflections on Regulation. Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy, 27(1), 1-27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowden, M. (2019). The security field: Forming and expanding a Bourdieusian criminology. Criminology & Criminal Justice. DOI: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895819839734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, J. (2000). The New Regulatory State and The Transformation of Criminology. British Journal of Criminology, 40, 222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, R. (2017). The malleable character of brokerage and crime control: a study of policing, security and network entrepreneurialism on Melbourne's waterfront. Policing and Society, 27(7), 712-731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brownsword, R., & Harel, A. (2019). Law, liberty and technology: criminal justice in the context of smart machines. International Journal of Law in Context, 15(2), 107-125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burris, S., Drahos, P, & Shearing, C. (2005). Nodal governance. Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy, 30, 30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calabrese, M., Iandolo, F., Caputo, F., & Sarno, D. (2018) From Mechanical to Cognitive View: the Changes of Decision Making in Business Environment. In Barile, S., Pellicano, M., Polese, F. (Eds.), Social Dynamics in a Systems Perspective. Cham: Springer.

  • Castel, R. (1991). From Dangerousness to Risk. In Burchell, G., Gordon, C., Miller, P. (Eds.) The Foucault Effect. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Côté-Boucher, K. (2016). The Paradox of Discretion: Customs and the Changing Occupational Identity of Canadian Border Officers. British Journal of Criminology, 56(1), 49-67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daskal, J.C. (2013). Pre-Crime Restraints: The Explosion of Targeted, Noncustodial Prevention. Cornell Law Review, 99, 327-386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dedeurwaerdere, T. (2005). The contribution of network governance to sustainable development. Les Séminaires de L’Iddri, 13, 1-15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Draca, M., & Machin, S. (2015). Crime and Economic Incentives. Annual Review of Economics, 7, 389-408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dur, R., & Vollaard, B. (2019). Salience of Law Enforcement: A Field Experiment. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 93, 208-220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dwenger, N., Kleven, H., Rasul, I., & Rincke, J. (2016). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for tax compliance: Evidence from a field experiment in Germany. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 8(3), 203-232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ericson, R.V., Doyle, A., Barry, D., & Ericson, D. (2003). Insurance as governance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fellner, G., Sausgruber, R., & Traxler, C. (2013). Testing Enforcement Strategies in the Field: Threat, Moral Appeal and Social Information. Journal of the European Economic Association, 11, 634-660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Filtenborg, M.S., Gänzle, S., & Johansson, E., (2002). An Alternative Theoretical Approach to EU Foreign Policy: Network Governance and the Case of the Northern Dimension Initiative. Cooperation and Conflict, 37(4), 387-407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fluker, S., Paskey, J., & Balaton, F. (2019). Funding Environmental Projects with Regulatory Prosecutions: Transparency and Accountability in Creative Environmental Sentencing. Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, 32(3), 243-272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1991a). Questions of Method. In Burchell, G., Gordon, C., Miller, P. (Eds.) The Foucault Effect. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Foucault, M. (1991b). Governmentality. In Burchell, G., Gordon, C., Miller, P. (Eds.) The Foucault Effect. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Foucault, M. (2009). Security, Territory, Population: Lectures at the Collège de France 1977–1978. London: Palgrave McMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, C. (1991). Governmental rationality: an introduction. In Burchell, G., Gordon, C., & Miller, P. (Eds.) The Foucault Effect. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

  • Gundhus, H., & Jansen, P.T. (2020). Pre-crime and policing of migrants: Anticipatory action meets management of concerns. Theoretical Criminology, 24(1), 90-109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haggerty, K., & Ericson, R. (2000). The Surveillant Assemblage. British Journal of Sociology, 51(4), 605-622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harnden, R., & Leonard, A. (1994). How Many Grapes Went into the Wine: Stafford Beer on the Art and Science of Holistic Management. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, S., King, C., & Lord, N. (2020). Justice for whom? The need for a principled approach to Deferred Prosecution Agreements in England and Wales. In Soreide, T., & Makinwa, A. (Eds.), Negotiated Settlements in Bribery Cases. London: Edward Elgar Publishing.

  • Hermitte, M.-A. (2003). La traçabilité des personnes et des choses. Précaution, pouvoirs et maitrise. In Pedrot, P. (Ed.) Traçabilité et responsabilité. Paris: Economica.

  • Hubschle, A. (2017). Fluid interfaces between flows of rhino horn. Global Crime, 18(3), 198-217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hufnagel, S. (2017). Regulation of cross-border law enforcement: “locks” and “dams” to regional and international flows of policing. Global Crime, 18(3), 218-236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, C.E., Bright, D.A., & Chalmers, J. (2017). Social network analysis of Australian poly-drug trafficking networks: How do drug traffickers manage multiple illicit drugs?. Social Networks, 51, 135-147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ison, R., Alexandra, J., & Wallis, P. (2018). Governing in the Anthropocene: are there cyber-systemic antidotes to the malaise of modern governance? Sustainability Science, 13(5), 1209-1223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, A. (2018). Intelligence-led policing: comparing national approaches to its regulation and control. In den Boer, M. (Ed.), Comparative Policing from a Legal Perspective. London: Edward Elgar Publishing.

  • Keating, C., & Katina, P.F. (2019). Complex system governance: Concept, utility, and challenges. Systems Research and Behavioural Science, 36, 687-705.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, I. (2010). Digital Locks and the Automation of Virtue. In Geist, M. (Ed.), From “Radical Extremism” to “Balanced Copyright”: Canadian Copyright and the Digital Agenda. Toronto: Irwin Law.

  • Kruisbergen, E., Kleemans, E., & Kouwenberg, R. (2016). Explaining attrition: Investigating and confiscating the profits of organized crime. European Journal of Criminology, 13(6), 677-695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kurkovsky West, D. (2013). CyberSovietica: Planning, Design, and the Cybernetics of Soviet Space, 1954–1986. PhD thesis, Princeton University.

  • Lessig, L. (1996). The Zones of Cyberspace. Stanford Law Review, 48, 1403-1408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loader, I. (1997). Thinking Normatively about Private Security. Journal of Law and Society, 24(3), 377-394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, D. (2010). Liquid Surveillance: The Contribution of Zygmunt Bauman to Surveillance Studies, International Political Sociology, 4, 325-338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manning, P.K. (2010). Democratic Policing in a Changing World. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manokha, I. (2018). Surveillance, panopticism, and self-discipline in the digital age. Surveillance & Society, 16(2), 219-237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantello, P. (2016). The Machine that Ate Bad People: The Ontopolitics of the Precrime Assemblage. Big Data & Society, 3(2), 1-11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medina, E. (2011). The Success of Cybernetic revolutionaries. Technology and Politics in Allende’s Chile. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Meijer, A., & Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2021). Responsible and accountable algorithmization: How to generate citizen trust in governmental use of algorithms. In Schuilenberg, M., & Peeters, R. (Eds.) The Algorithmic Society: Technology Power and Knowledge. London: Routledge.

  • Molnar, A., & Warren, I. (2020). Governing Liberty through Accountability: Surveillance Reporting as Technologies of Governmentality. Critical Criminology, 28, 13-26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montague, D. (2002). Stolen goods: Coltan and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sais Review, 22(1), 103-118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morselli, C. (2009). Inside Criminal Networks. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, A., & Scott, C. (2002). Controlling the New Media: Hybrid Responses to New Forms of Power. The Modern Law Review, 65(4), 491-516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newton, L. H. (2006). Permission to Steal: Revealing the Roots of Corporate Scandal. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pallister-Wilkins, P. (2016). How Walls Do Work: Security Barriers as Devices of Interruption and Data Capture. Security Dialogue, 47(2), 151-164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, A. (2004). The science of the unknowable: Stafford Beer’s cybernetic informatics. Kybernetes, 33(4), 499-521.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, A. (2010). The Cybernetic Brain. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Reynaers, A.-M., & Parrado, S. (2017). Responsive regulation in public‐private partnerships: Between deterrence and persuasion. Regulation & Governance, 11(3), 269-281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, N.M. (2012). The dangers of surveillance. Harvard Law Review, 126, 1934-1965.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rock, P. (1994). History of criminology. Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruth, T., Matusitz, J., & Wan, T.T. (2015). Understanding Predatory Organised Crime through Network Governance Theory. Social Change, 45(4), 587-604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, A. (2014). A Framework for Systemic Design. FORMakademisk, 7(4), 1-14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, C., & Condon, C. (2017). Crime Analysis and Cognitive Effects: the Practice of Policing Through Flows of Data. Global Crime, 18(3), 237-255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlindwein, S.L., & Ison, R. (2019). Confronting total systemic failure? The May 2018 truckers’ strike in Brazil. Systems Research and Behavioural Science, 37, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2603.

  • Schuelenberg, M. The Security Society: On Power, Surveillance and Punishments. In Arrigo, B., & Sellers, B. (Eds.), The Pre-Crime Society: Crime, Culture and Control in the Ultramodern Age. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

  • Seddon, T., Ralphs, R., & Williams, L. (2008). Risk, Security and the “Criminalization” of British Drug Policy. British Journal of Criminology, 48, 818-834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seddon, T. (2016). Inventing Drugs: A Genealogy of a Regulatory Concept. Journal of Law and Society, 43(3), 393-415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shearing, C., & Wood, J. (2003). Nodal Governance, Democracy, and the New “Denizens”. Journal of Law and Society, 30(3), 400-419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slemrod, J., Ur Rehman, O., & Waseem, M. (2019). Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Motivations for Tax Compliance: Evidence from Pakistan. Oxford: Said Business School.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sparrow, M. (2000). The Regulatory Craft. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, M. (2010). Stolen goods markets. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swann, T. (2018). Towards an anarchist cybernetics: Stafford Beer, self-organisation and radical social movements. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization, 18(3), 427–456.

  • Sydelko, P., Midgley, G., & Espinosa, A. (2017). A systemic integration approach to designing interagency responses to wicked problems. Proceedings of the 61st Annual Meeting of the ISSS (Vienna, Austria).

  • Taylor, I., Walton, P., & Young, J. (1973). The new criminology: For a social theory of deviance. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Therrien, M.-C., Valiquette-L’Heureux, A., Normandin, J.-M., & Smits, P. (2016). Tightly coupled governance for loosely coupled wicked problems: the train explosion in Lac-Mégantic case. International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management, 19(4), 260-277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tombs, S. (2015). Crisis, What Crisis? Regulation and the Academic Orthodoxy. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 54, 57–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trottier, D. (2012), Social Media as Surveillance. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Truong, V.D., Dang, N.V.H., & Hall, C.M. (2016). The marketplace management of illegal elixirs: illicit consumption of rhino horn. Consumption Markets & Culture, 19(4), 353-369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turnbull, S., (2003). Network governance. Corporate Governance International, 6(3), 4-14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Brakel, R., & de Hert, P. (2011). Policing, Surveillance and Law in a Pre-Crime Society: Understanding the Consequences of Technology Based Strategies. Technology-led Policing, 20, 165-192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker-Munro, B. (2019). A case for systemic design in criminal law techno-regulation. Criminal Law Journal, 43(5), 306–324

  • Walker-Munro, B. (2020). A case for the use of cyber-systemics to combat financial crime in Australia. Kybernetes, 50(11), 3082–3105. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-09-2020-0581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whelan, C., & Molnar, A. (2017). Managing flows during mega-events: taking account of internal and external flows in public order policing operations. Global Crime, 18(3), 176-197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J.R. (2015). The Word Criminology: A Philology and a Definition. Criminology, Criminal Justice Law, & Society, 16(3), 61-82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, J., & Shearing, C. (2007). Imagining Security. Devon (UK): Willan.

  • Yadin, S. (2018). Saving Lives Through Shaming. Harvard Business Law Review Online, 9, 1-14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zedner, L. (2007). Pre-crime and post-criminology? Theoretical Criminology, 11(2), 261-281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, Q., Brine, J., Dimitar P., & Filev, D.P. (2015). Defining Cybernetics: Reflections on the Science of Governance. IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Magazine, 1(2), 18-26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Brendan Walker-Munro

Authors
  1. Brendan Walker-Munro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brendan Walker-Munro.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Walker-Munro, B. An Examination of Cyber-Systemic Regulation in Criminology Through the Lens of “Flows”. Crit Crim 31, 507–524 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-022-09680-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-022-09680-7

Search

Navigation