Towards Integration of Biological, Psychological, and Social Aspects in Agent-Based Simulation of Violent Offenders

In the analysis of criminal behavior, a combination of biological, psychological and social aspects may be taken into account. Dynamical modeling methods developed in recent years often address biological, psychological or social dynamical systems separately. This paper makes the first step in the development of an agent-based modeling approach for criminal behavior in which these aspects are integrated in one dynamical system. It is shown how within a certain (multi-agent) social context, biological factors, such as certain brain deviations, testosterone levels and serotonin levels, affect cognitive and emotional functioning in such a way that a crime is committed when the perceived opportunity is there. This paper presents one generic model for the behavior of violent offenders with parameters that can be set to obtain simulation traces for three known types of offenders. © 2009, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved