PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore human factors as the possible facilitator of cyber-dependent (hacking and malware infection) and cyber-enabled (phishing) crimes victimisation and to test the applicability of lifestyle routine activities theory (LRAT) to cybercrime victimisation.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methods research paradigm was applied to address the research questions and aims. The data set of Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) 2014/2015 and 42 semi-structured interviews conducted with victims of cybercrime and non-victim control group participants were analysed via binary logistic regression and content analyses methods.FindingsThis research illustrated that Internet users facilitated their victimisation through their online activities. Additionally, using insecure Internet connections and public access computers emerged as risk factors for both cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Voluntary and involuntary personal information disclosure through social networking sites and online advertisement websites increased the likelihood of being a target of phishing. Deviant online activities such as free streaming or peer-to-peer sharing emerged to increase the risk of cyber-dependent crime victimisation.Research limitations/implicationsThe binary logistic regression analysis results suggested LRAT as a more suitable theoretical framework for cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Future research may test this result with models including more macro variables.Practical implicationsPolicymakers may consider implementing regulations regarding limiting the type of information required to login to free Wi-Fi connections. Checking trust signs and green padlocks may be effective safeguarding measures to lessen the adverse impacts of impulsive buying.Originality/valueThis study empirically illustrated that, besides individual-level factors, macro-level factors such as electronic devices being utilised to access the Internet and data breaches of large companies also increased the likelihood of becoming the victim of cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime.

The commercialization of forensic scientific provision in the UK over the last two decades has had a major role in shaping a changing epistemic identity for forensic scientists working within this jurisdiction. Efforts to match the presumed epistemological standards of the 'pure' sciences have been brought together with concerns about value for money in a new approach to the interpretation of evidence, an activity that lies at the heart of criminal investigative practice. A study of the Case Assessment and Interpretation method developed by members of the UK Forensic Science Service is used to show how a technical innovation in the delivery of forensic science services to the police has instantiated these two recent social processes.

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‘Material’: n. The substance or substances out of which a thing is or can be made. adj. Being both relevant and consequential; crucial; ‘testimony material to the inquiry’.

This article describes disputes that have arisen around forms of forensic DNA profiling technologies known as ‘low-template DNA’ methods. These ultra-sensitive techniques, used to analyse trace quantities of DNA, have previously been used in many high-profile criminal cases. However, certain cases have stimulated renewed debate within forensic scientific communities concerning the reliability and validity of low-template DNA. The low-template DNA controversy is used in this article to further explore the co-productive dynamics between biotechnology and criminal justice, which have previously been termed ‘biolegality’. My study describes the boundary work through which interlocutors have attempted to frame the status of low-template DNA as a forensic innovation. A series of published exchanges by forensic scientists in a technical journal is used to highlight the challenges of negotiating a series of technological boundaries through which low-template DNA has been comprehended by actors. I show how the articulation of low-template DNA creates new and varying epistemic relationships and dependencies. In making visible this boundary work, I highlight the potential for further exploration of the interactional dimensions of biolegality.