Social Foraging for Crime: A Simulation Study on Co-Offenders' Specialization

Similar to animals foraging for food, offenders navigate environments in search of rewarding criminal opportunities, weighing risks, rewards, and effort. This foraging perspective offers a useful lens for understanding how offenders specialize in certain crime types and how co-offending may influence this process. While previous studies have explored the specialization of co-offending groups, less is known about how collaboration affects individual specialization over time. To address this gap, this study introduces a formal agent-based model in which offenders move through a spatial environment, encountering diverse opportunities and deciding whether to offend alone or with a partner. Decisions are shaped by skill levels, risk of punishment, and the potential for reward or skill exchange through co-offending. In line with previous theoretical research on co-offending, specifically social exchange theory, we expect to show that criminal collaboration enables offenders to learn new skills faster and enables the commitment of more complicated types of crimes. We aim to provide new insights into the dynamics of co-offending specialization, drawing parallels between offender decision-making and behavioral ecology.