Using Crime Script Analysis to Understand the Illegal Harvesting of Live Corals: Case Studies From Indonesia and Fiji

Abstract

Imported to adorn tanks of marine aquarium hobbyists, the trade in live corals poses a significant risk to species that concurrently face threats from rising global temperatures, pollution, and destructive fishing practices. To better understand the live coral trade, we employed a crime script framework to analyze the process by which corals are harvested in two of the world’s major exporting countries—Indonesia and Fiji. We demonstrate that coral harvesting and export are complex activities that require a specific set of skills and tools. As such, various intervention strategies are proposed to address illegal coral harvesting at different stages of the crime script.

Sea anemones in the marine aquarium trade: Market preferences indicate opportunities for mariculture and conservation

“…Furthermore, legislative and environmental changes since 2011, such as export bans in Indonesia, Hawai'i and the Philippines (Sosnowski, Weis & Petrossian, 2020), or localized extinctions (e.g. Gasparini et al, 2005), may partly explain the differences between the current results and previously published data.…”

In the Name of Dark Web Justice: A Crime Script Analysis of Hacking Services and the Underground Justice System

“…B. Cornish, 1994; D. V. Cornish & Clarke, 2003; Lee, 2020, 2022; Levi & Maguire, 2004; Sosnowski et al, 2020). The analysis of crime scripts is particularly valuable for understanding how crimes are committed and organized (Lee, 2022).…”

How Online Fraud Victims are Targeted in China: A Crime Script Analysis of Baidu Tieba C2C Fraud

“…Prior to data analysis, the author used inductive coding to explore data to document emergent codes and themes. Crime script analytical procedures—preparation, entry, precondition, initiation, actualization—were initially used as well, informed by previous research (see Cornish, 1994; Cornish & Clarke, 2003; Sosnowski et al, 2020). In the course of data management and analysis, a modus operandi of C2C fraud was modified in scope to “pre-operation, operation, finalization, and exit stages” to adequately capture the process.…”

“…The paper uses a qualitative approach and documents C2C fraud crime scripts across four stages (pre-operation, operation, finalization, exit) as identified in previous scholarship (Cornish, 1994; Cornish & Clarke, 2003; Sosnowski et al, 2020). In doing so, the current study highlights the use of the Internet/social media as a medium for C2C fraud and the roles of trust-building and perceived risk management specific to this cybercrime genre.…”