Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases
Criminology is undergoing a process of innovation and experimentation with the rise of social media. Although police have traditionally been the locus of legal enforcement, ordinary citizens are increasingly afforded opportunities to participate in crowdsourced investigations. In this article, we ex...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2019-12-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019893700 |
| _version_ | 1818109020716662784 |
|---|---|
| author | Garry Gray Brigitte Benning |
| author_facet | Garry Gray Brigitte Benning |
| author_sort | Garry Gray |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Criminology is undergoing a process of innovation and experimentation with the rise of social media. Although police have traditionally been the locus of legal enforcement, ordinary citizens are increasingly afforded opportunities to participate in crowdsourced investigations. In this article, we explore the emerging field of crowdsourcing criminology and its relationship to newsmaking criminology, public criminology, and the reshaping of news as infotainment (popular criminology). Drawing on a case study of a missing person named Emma Fillipoff, and our experience of involvement in the development of a television (TV) documentary dedicated to help finding Emma, we examine the process of crowdsourcing in practice and how it may oscillate between infotainment and public criminology inspired by academic evidence. Crowdsourcing criminology represents both a theoretical and an applied shift in our research focus and paves the way for a host of new projects that strive to reveal the strategies and techniques that define and characterize crowdsourced investigations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T02:24:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-99f8b19518bd4f86b8314e076989c5c8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T02:24:37Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-99f8b19518bd4f86b8314e076989c5c82022-12-22T01:23:58ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402019-12-01910.1177/2158244019893700Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person CasesGarry Gray0Brigitte Benning1University of Victoria, British Columbia, CanadaIndigenous Education Coordinator, Peace Wapiti Public School Division, Grande Prairie, Alberta, CanadaCriminology is undergoing a process of innovation and experimentation with the rise of social media. Although police have traditionally been the locus of legal enforcement, ordinary citizens are increasingly afforded opportunities to participate in crowdsourced investigations. In this article, we explore the emerging field of crowdsourcing criminology and its relationship to newsmaking criminology, public criminology, and the reshaping of news as infotainment (popular criminology). Drawing on a case study of a missing person named Emma Fillipoff, and our experience of involvement in the development of a television (TV) documentary dedicated to help finding Emma, we examine the process of crowdsourcing in practice and how it may oscillate between infotainment and public criminology inspired by academic evidence. Crowdsourcing criminology represents both a theoretical and an applied shift in our research focus and paves the way for a host of new projects that strive to reveal the strategies and techniques that define and characterize crowdsourced investigations.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019893700 |
| spellingShingle | Garry Gray Brigitte Benning Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases SAGE Open |
| title | Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases |
| title_full | Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases |
| title_fullStr | Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases |
| title_full_unstemmed | Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases |
| title_short | Crowdsourcing Criminology: Social Media and Citizen Policing in Missing Person Cases |
| title_sort | crowdsourcing criminology social media and citizen policing in missing person cases |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019893700 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT garrygray crowdsourcingcriminologysocialmediaandcitizenpolicinginmissingpersoncases AT brigittebenning crowdsourcingcriminologysocialmediaandcitizenpolicinginmissingpersoncases |