Investigating the uses of mobile phone evidence in China criminal proceedings

Zhang, Aolan; Bradford, Ben; Morgan, Ruth M.; Nakhaeizadeh, Sherry

doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2022.03.011

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Mobile phone data contain different kinds of digital traces, such as mobility traces and communication traces, which can be used as evidence in criminal investigations [89]. Therefore, the digital traces left by a large number of mobile devices provide valuable information that facilitates the understanding of human behavior and mobility in the context of criminology, such as the prediction and identification of crimes and suspects.…”

Section: Rq1: What Are the Current State-of-the-art Methods And Techn...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Mobile Phone Data in Crime Applications: A Coherent Taxonomy Based on Data Types and Analysis Perspectives, Challenges, and Future Research Directions

Okmi

Por

Ang

et al. 2023

Sensors

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Digital technologies have recently become more advanced, allowing for the development of social networking sites and applications. Despite these advancements, phone calls and text messages still make up the largest proportion of mobile data usage. It is possible to study human communication behaviors and mobility patterns using the useful information that mobile phone data provide. Specifically, the digital traces left by the large number of mobile devices provide important information that facilitates a deeper understanding of human behavior and mobility configurations for researchers in various fields, such as criminology, urban sensing, transportation planning, and healthcare. Mobile phone data record significant spatiotemporal (i.e., geospatial and time-related data) and communication (i.e., call) information. These can be used to achieve different research objectives and form the basis of various practical applications, including human mobility models based on spatiotemporal interactions, real-time identification of criminal activities, inference of friendship interactions, and density distribution estimation. The present research primarily reviews studies that have employed mobile phone data to investigate, assess, and predict human communication and mobility patterns in the context of crime prevention. These investigations have sought, for example, to detect suspicious activities, identify criminal networks, and predict crime, as well as understand human communication and mobility patterns in urban sensing applications. To achieve this, a systematic literature review was conducted on crime research studies that were published between 2014 and 2022 and listed in eight electronic databases. In this review, we evaluated the most advanced methods and techniques used in recent criminology applications based on mobile phone data and the benefits of using this information to predict crime and detect suspected criminals. The results of this literature review contribute to improving the existing understanding of where and how populations live and socialize and how to classify individuals based on their mobility patterns. The results show extraordinary growth in studies that utilized mobile phone data to study human mobility and movement patterns compared to studies that used the data to infer communication behaviors. This observation can be attributed to privacy concerns related to acquiring call detail records (CDRs). Additionally, most of the studies used census and survey data for data validation. The results show that social network analysis tools and techniques have been widely employed to detect criminal networks and urban communities. In addition, correlation analysis has been used to investigate spatial–temporal patterns of crime, and ambient population measures have a significant impact on crime rates.

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Section: Rq1: What Are the Current State-of-the-art Methods And Techn...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Mobile Phone Data in Crime Applications: A Coherent Taxonomy Based on Data Types and Analysis Perspectives, Challenges, and Future Research Directions

Okmi

Por

Ang

et al. 2023

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another Chinese study, drawing inspiration from previous research, investigated various aspects of mobile phone evidence in criminal proceedings from 2013 to 2018. The study focused on determining the proportion of cases that employ mobile phone evidence, examining the types of crimes and mobile phone data involved, exploring the connection between different types of evidence and specific criminal proceedings, and evaluating the significance of mobile phone evidence in court proceedings (Zhang et al, 2022). The study revealed that mobile phone evidence was utilised in a small proportion of the cases included in the dataset, but there was a slight upward trend in the usage of mobile phone evidence over the years.…”

Section: The Prominence Of Mobile Forensics In Criminal Courtmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The motivation for the proposed study stems from the conclusions drawn in the studies by McMillan, Glisson and Bromby (2013) and Zhang et al (2022). The findings of both studies indicate that rather than solely emphasising its role in court proceedings, future studies should investigate the application of mobile data evidence during the investigative process.…”

Section: Contribution and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One domain that is largely overlooked is that of criminal investigations, where smartphones have emerged as valuable sources of potential evidence. Acknowledging the strong link between smartphone usage and its relevance in criminal cases, researchers McMillan, Glisson and Bromby (2013) and Zhang et al (2022) embarked on empirical studies to establish and support this idea. Their findings have inspired the research direction of this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Using Digital Forensics for Android Smartphone Devices to aid Criminal Investigations

Agenbag,

Henney,

Pieterse

2024

iccws

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In the past decade, there has been an exponential adoption and ownership of smartphones by billions of users worldwide. However, as smartphone usage increases, criminals have taken advantage of them for illicit or criminal purposes. In criminal investigations, smartphone data has become an invaluable source of information. This study focuses on constructing a snapshot of Android-operated smartphone data to assist investigators in answering critical investigative questions. A thorough review of the literature with regard to the use of smartphone evidence in criminal cases, with the goal of emphasising the investigative phase and the supportive role of mobile data evidence in guiding investigations will be performed. In order to identify additional persons of interest and develop a thorough understanding of the case, the methodology will entail analysing user profiles, smartphone usage patterns, communication logs, application usage, geographic lookups, and device interactions. By conducting a thorough examination of relevant literature, designing a suitable model, and executing a case study, the study intends to offer valuable perspectives on the creation of timelines or visual representations derived from smartphone data. The results of this study will contribute to improving the efficacy of mobile forensics in assisting investigators and facilitating the use of Android-operated smartphone data as supporting evidence in criminal investigations.

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Contextualising the investigation work in China: the facilitators and barriers in using mobile phone evidence

Zhang

2024

Policing and Society

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Investigating the uses of mobile phone evidence in China criminal proceedings

Cited by 4 publications

References 41 publications

A Systematic Review of Mobile Phone Data in Crime Applications: A Coherent Taxonomy Based on Data Types and Analysis Perspectives, Challenges, and Future Research Directions

A Systematic Review of Mobile Phone Data in Crime Applications: A Coherent Taxonomy Based on Data Types and Analysis Perspectives, Challenges, and Future Research Directions

Using Digital Forensics for Android Smartphone Devices to aid Criminal Investigations

Contextualising the investigation work in China: the facilitators and barriers in using mobile phone evidence

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