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An Immune System Inspired Theory for Crime and Violence in Cities

Author

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  • Soumya Banerjee

    (University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Ronin Institute, Montclair, United States of America
    Complex Biological Systems Alliance, North Andover, United States of America)

Abstract

Crime is ubiquitous and has been around for millennia. Crime is analogous to a pathogenic infection and police response to it is similar to an immune response. The biological immune system is also engaged in an arms race with pathogens. We propose an immune system inspired theory of crime and violence in human societies, especially in large agglomerations like cities. In this work we suggest that an immune system inspired theory of crime can provide a new perspective on the dynamics of violence in societies. The competitive dynamics between police and criminals has similarities to how the immune system is involved in an arms race with invading pathogens. Cities have properties similar to biological organisms and in this theory the police and military forces would be the immune system that protects against detrimental internal and external forces. Our theory has implications for public policy: ranging from how much financial resource to invest in crime fighting, to optimal policing strategies, pre-placement of police, and number of police to be allocated to different cities. Our work can also be applied to other forms of violence in human societies (like terrorism) and violence in other primate societies and eusocial insects. We hope this will be the first step towards a quantitative theory of violence and conflict in human societies. Ultimately we hope that this will help in designing smart and efficient cities that can scale and be sustainable despite population increase.

Suggested Citation

  • Soumya Banerjee, 2017. "An Immune System Inspired Theory for Crime and Violence in Cities," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 15(2), pages 133-143.
    • Handle: RePEc:zna:indecs:v:15:y:2017:i:2:p:133-143
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sara Fisher Ellison & Wallace P. Mullin, 2014. "Diversity, Social Goods Provision, and Performance in the Firm," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 465-481, June.
    2. Simon DeDeo & David C Krakauer & Jessica C Flack, 2010. "Inductive Game Theory and the Dynamics of Animal Conflict," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(5), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Soumya Banerjee, 2016. "A biologically inspired model of distributed online communication supporting efficient search and diffusion of innovation," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 14(1), pages 10-22.
    4. Soumya Banerjee, 2016. "A biologically inspired model of distributed online communication supporting efficient search and diffusion of innovation," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 14(1), pages 10-22.
    5. Soumya Banerjee & Pascal Van Hentenryck & Manuel Cebrian, 2015. "Competitive dynamics between criminals and law enforcement explains the super-linear scaling of crime in cities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(palcomms2), pages 15022-15022, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. repec:zna:indecs:v:19:y:2021:i:4:p:31-41 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Soumya Banerjee, 2021. "Emergent rules of computation in the Universe lead to life and consciousness: a computational framework for consciousness," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 19(1), pages 31-41.
    3. Soumya Banerjee, 2020. "A framework for designing compassionate and ethical artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence and artificial consciousness," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 18(2A), pages 85-95.
    4. Soumya Banerjee, 2019. "Towards a Quantitative Model of Epidemics during Conflicts," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 17(3-B), pages 598-614.
    5. Soumya Banerjee, 2018. "Citizen Data Science for Social Good in Complex Systems," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 16(1), pages 88-91.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    complex systems; immune system inspired; computational sociology; modelling socio-economic systems; artificial immune systems;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • C65 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Miscellaneous Mathematical Tools
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • O21 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Planning Models; Planning Policy

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