Criminology Dissertation Topics

Criminology Dissertation Topics

Info: Criminology Dissertation Topics
Published: 08th July 2025 in Criminology Dissertation Topics

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Dissertation Topic 1:

Integrating Criminological Theories into Cybersecurity Frameworks: A Sector-Specific Approach

Background Context

Theories of criminology, such as Routine Activity Theory and Rational Choice Theory, provide separate worthy theoretical perspectives of the prevention of cybercrime, but by their very nature criminological theory has yet to be applied to cybersecurity frameworks (Mushtaq, 2025). These theories offer strengths by identifying opportunities for the vulnerability within a theoretical understanding of cybercrime while highlighting the need for sectoral specificity, which may include health, finance, and the public sector (Çalışkan, 2025). This dissertation will investigate how criminological theories can be useful to develop sector-specific cybersecurity frameworks and practices and guidance for the prevention of cybercrime.

Research Questions

1. In what ways can criminological theories, including Routine Activity Theory and Rational Choice Theory, be applied by cybersecurity practitioners to inform, expand and enrich cybersecurity frameworks across public systems and private institutional sectors?
2. What would the implications for sector-specific application of criminological theory to support prevention of cybersecurity offences be?
3. How do national cybersecurity frameworks intend to embed criminological theories and be more robust in helping to prevent crime?

Potential Implications

1. More useful, contextualized, and sector specific in terms of cybersecurity frameworks that consider institutional demands.
2. Improved understanding of how criminological theory can help to engage cybersecurity practitioners across diverse criminological fields.
3. A greater understanding of the potential ability of engaging criminological theory to develop a national cybersecurity framework.

Suggested Reading

  • Mushtaq, S., & Shah, M. (2025). Threats to the Digital Ecosystem: Can Information Security Management Frameworks, Guided by Criminological Literature, Effectively Prevent Cybercrime and Protect Public Data? Computers, 14(6), 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers14060219
  • Çalışkan, E. M. B. (2025). Strategic analysis of cyber conflicts: A game-theoretic modelling of global cyber crises in the 2000s. Security and Defence Quarterly, 52(4).
    • Interested in applying criminology and cybersecurity policy initiatives? Contact us to help you clarify your dissertation topic and to identify criminological theories and concepts that are relevant to specific sectors to develop a stronger, evidence-based introduction to your cybersecurity initiatives.

    Dissertation Topic 2:

    The Role of Environmental Criminology in Preventing Cybercrime: A Focus on ‘Cyberplaces’

    Background Context

    Environmental criminology examines environments (physical or digital) and how they create opportunities for crime or limit crime. The term ‘cyberplaces’ refers to the digital environments that provide a setting for crime to take place (e.g., big platforms, social media platforms, and e-commerce) (Masmoudi, 2025). This dissertation will assess how our knowledge of digital environments in respect of environmental criminology will help inform a cybersecurity strategy to limit crime opportunities for cybercrime in digital environments (Madarie, 2025).

    Research Questions

    1. What is the influence of environmental criminology and ‘cyberplaces’ in limiting cybercrime in digital spaces?
    2. How do digital platforms promote crime opportunities and/or crime prevention, and what changes can aid in this securing process?
    3. What role does criminological knowledge and understanding play in intuitively acting upon influence cybersecurity in digital spaces?

    Potential Implications

    1. New way to limit cybercrime by using an environmental criminology-based platform design approach
    2. Organisational recommendations on → ‘design to reduce crime’ → cybercrime platform design.
    3. How criminological principles and knowledge can be aspects of a cybersecurity framework in securing (digital) spaces.

    Suggested Reading

  • Masmoudi, S. (2025). Unveiling the Human Factor in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity: Motivations, Behaviors, Vulnerabilities, Mitigation Strategies, and Research Methods. In Cybercrime Unveiled: Technologies for Analysing Legal Complexity (pp. 41-91). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
  • Madarie, R., Weulen Kranenbarg, M., & de Poot, C. (2025). Cybersecurity Expert Perspectives on Data Thieves’ Actions in Digital Environments: Potential Refinements for Routine Activity Theory. Deviant Behavior, 1-19.
    • Would you like to see how environmental criminology can help reduce crime in the digital economy? If so, we want to hear from you so we can help you develop your dissertation looking at how criminological theories and concepts can inform our use and design of digital platforms and spaces.

    Dissertation Topic 3:

    Evaluating the Effectiveness of National Cybersecurity Frameworks: A Comparative Study of Developed and Developing Nations

    Background Context

    National-level cybersecurity frameworks such as the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) play an important role in managing cyber risk in digital infrastructures, yet implementation and enactment are vastly different between developed and developing nations (Gupta et al., 2025). This dissertation will take an evaluative look at how well these frameworks reduce cybercrime based on evidence from different countries and provide recommendations for improving global implementation (Zaydi et al., 2023).

    Research Questions

    1. How well do National Cybersecurity Frameworks rank in developed and developing countries, relative to each other, and what are the implicit factors within those rankings?
    2. What are some of the problems for developing nations that national cybersecurity frameworks address and can be fixed?
    3. How should existing cybersecurity frameworks and existing international standards for cybersecurity change for the needs of developing nations?

    Potential Implications

    1. Better understanding of how the adoption of cybersecurity frameworks can be optimised according to the socio-economic and technical capabilities of countries.
    2. Recommendations on how to identify and improve the functionality of the cybersecurity frameworks of developing nations.
    3. Better international collaboration on standards and frameworks for cybersecurity in response to the challenges of developing nations and cross-border crime.

    Suggested Reading

  • Gupta, S. K., & Singh, P. (2025). Global Cybersecurity Governance: The Role of International Norms in Cyberspace. In Cybercrime Unveiled: Technologies for Analysing Legal Complexity (pp. 113-127). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
  • Zaydi, M., Maleh, Y., & Khourdifi, Y. (2025). A new framework for agile cybersecurity risk management: Integrating continuous adaptation and real-time threat intelligence (ACSRM-ICTI). In Agile Security in the Digital Era (pp. 19-47). CRC Press.
    • Interested in studying and comparing national cybersecurity frameworks? Contact us to tailor your dissertation to an examination of comparative studies of cybersecurity frameworks in developed and developing economies.

    Dissertation Topic 4:

    The Role of Cybersecurity Education in Mitigating Cybercrime: A Global Perspective

    Background Context

    Cybersecurity education is obviously essential in reducing cybercrime through increased awareness and improved best practice in a generic sense (Whitman and Mattord, 2024). That said, education initiatives differ significantly between developed and developing countries, and at times there are facilitators that restrict educational efforts from being implemented fully in developing countries (Solms and Niekerk, 2025). This dissertation offers a pathway to discuss and develop methods for global education strategies towards cybersecurity education in order to reduce risk around cybercrime.

    Research Questions

    1. How effective are current cybersecurity education initiatives at addressing cybercrime at different levels of society?
    2. How are strategies to educate about cybersecurity in developed and developing countries differentiated, and how do they differ in their efficacy at addressing cybercrime?
    3. What potential shared educational avenues are there between the public and private sectors to improve and support global awareness and education?

    Potential Impact

    1. Better understanding of what the evidence demonstrates in the role of education in mitigating cybercrime.
    2. Designing and conducting effective cybersecurity education programmes that focus on the local context and take into account the regional context.
    3. Informed strategies for collaboration between the public and private sectors in approaches to global safety and awareness initiatives.

    Suggested Reading

  • Mavlonov, S. H., & Yunusov, A. X. (2025). MODERN APPROACHES TO TEACHING THE SUBJECT OF INFORMATION SECURITY IN ELECTRONIC LEARNING PLATFORMS. Теоретические аспекты становления педагогических наук, 4(10), 61-63.
  • Manea, O. A., & Zbuchea, A. (2025). The Convergence of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity: Innovations, Challenges, and Future Directions. In Economic and Political Consequences of AI: Managing Creative Destruction (pp. 321-350). IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
    • Would you like to see how cybersecurity education is implemented and received around the world? If so, contact us and we can help you shape your dissertation on best practices and strategies regarding the global impact of cybersecurity education.

    Dissertation Topic 5:

    A Critical Analysis of Cybercrime Legislation: Comparing National and International Legal Frameworks

    Background Context

    There is a broad range of cybercrime legislation, and differences between jurisdictions is a significant impediment to international collaboration (Wall, 2024). The Budapest Convention was one international effort to establish common ways to tackle cybercrime with varying outcomes and inconsistent responses to newer threats such as ransomware (Bartoli, 2025). This dissertation will critically assess how useful national and international legal frameworks are in dealing with cybercrime, specifically emerging types of cybercrime.

    Research Questions

    1. What is the effectiveness of national cybercrime legislation and the challenges of enforcement?
    2. How does the Budapest Convention attempt to address the challenges presented by cross-border cybercrime, and where does it fail?
    3. What emerging types of cybercrime require new, or at least contemporary, relevant laws for police enforcement?

    Potential Implications

    1. Assist the legislative community to better understand the current gaps and weaknesses in cybercrime legislation.
    2. Provide suggestions that promote the cooperation, and harmonization of legal actions internationally.
    3. Assist the policy-making community to understand the pace of legal reform needed to keep up with cybercrime developments, especially ransomware.

    Suggested Readings

  • Bartoli, L. (2025). Cybersecurity and the Fight against Cybercrime: Partners or Competitors? European Journal of Risk Regulation, 1-16.
  • Buçaj, E., & Idrizaj, K. (2025). The need for cybercrime regulation on a global scale by the international law and cyber convention. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 8(1), 2025024-2025024.

    • Interested in examining the comparative effectiveness of cybercrime legislation across jurisdictions?
    We want to hear from you to support your research into contemporary international cybercrime legal frameworks and their intended impact, and any the efficacy on future legal responses.

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