Big data, the analysis of original datasets with large samples ranging from ~30,000 to one million participants to mine unexplored data, has been under-utilized in criminology. However, there have been recent calls for greater synthesis between epidemiology and criminology and a small number of scholars have utilized epidemiological studies that were designed to measure alcohol and substance use to harvest behavioral and psychiatric measures that relate to the study of crime. These studies have been helpful in producing knowledge about the most serious, violent, and chronic offenders, but applications to more pathological forensic populations is lagging. Unfortunately, big data relating to crime and justice are restricted and limited to criminal justice purposes and not easily available to the research community. Thus, the study of criminal and forensic populations is limited in terms of data volume, velocity, and variety. Additional forays into epidemiology, increased use of available online judicial and correctional data, and unknown new frontiers are needed to bring criminology up to speed in the big data arena.

Introduction

For most of its existence, academic criminology has been largely devoid of any reference to epidemiology except for occasional works. For instance, Cressey noted that an epidemiological understanding of the statistical distribution of crime in time and space was an important mission for criminology. And while many studies repeatedly found that crime was disproportionately committed by males compared to females, African Americans compared to whites, and youth compared to older adults, there was nevertheless a lack of follow-up on Cressey’s suggestion.1 Indeed, it was not until the late 1970s that theoretical and empirical research began to take seriously the idea of epidemiology in terms of understanding the distribution of crime and victimization across various social statuses (e.g., age, sex, race, social class, personality).2-4 Once it was understood that crime and victimization disproportionately occurred among similarly situated young males congregating in specific types of contexts, enforcement and prevention efforts could tailor their modalities accordingly. In recent years, Akers and Lanier formally called for epidemiological criminology to bring the methods and concepts from epidemiology—primarily concerned with health and illness in the population in the interests of public health and preventive medicine—to the study of criminal offenders who often display serious health-compromising behaviors and impose a substantial public health burden.5-6 Similar to the muted reaction to Cressey decades earlier, there has not been a broad response to the more recent calls for epidemiological criminology. However, some criminologists have followed the suggestion and incorporated epidemiological datasets into criminal justice theory and research. Fundamentally, recent research has shown the promise of mining big data for answering an array of questions relating to criminal and forensic populations.