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CrimTS

Skills translator

From criminology to Trust & Safety framing

Browse the 23 common translations below, or type your own method, skill, or experience to get a custom translation and a sharable card.

Common translations

Each row maps a criminology research method or experience to its closest Trust & Safety analog, with a one-paragraph frame you can adapt for a resume, application, or interview answer.

  1. Routine activity theory

    Account integrity / detection logic

    Frame routine-activity work as the theoretical foundation for risk-scoring of accounts: motivated offender, suitable target, absent guardian — operationalized as signals a classifier can read. Useful in integrity, detection, and policy roles.

    Also matches: routine activities, rat, lifestyle exposure

  2. Situational crime prevention

    Safety by design / friction

    Pitch situational crime prevention as the explicit framework behind every friction feature on a platform — interstitials, rate limits, identity checks. T&S product teams routinely re-derive SCP without naming it; you can save them time.

    Also matches: scp, opportunity reduction

  3. Deterrence theory

    Enforcement calibration / strike systems

    Translate deterrence work into the design of escalating consequences (warning → suspension → permanent ban). T&S strike systems are intuitive; you can make them empirically grounded.

    Also matches: specific deterrence, general deterrence

  4. Labeling theory

    False positives / wrongful enforcement

    Position labeling theory as the empirical case for procedural-justice investment in appeals and remediation. Over-enforcement is not just a metric problem — it produces downstream behavioral effects on legitimately flagged users.

    Also matches: labelling theory, stigma, deviance amplification

  5. Recidivism research

    Ban evasion detection / risk scoring

    Frame recidivism methodology as the basis for risk-stratified enforcement. T&S has analogues to every recidivism predictor (account age, prior violation type, network ties) but rarely applies the actuarial framework explicitly.

    Also matches: reoffending, re-offending, actuarial risk

  6. Criminal career research

    Bad-actor trajectory / lifecycle analysis

    Map criminal-career methodology (onset, frequency, duration, seriousness) onto account violation histories. Direct application in integrity research and ban-evasion investigations.

    Also matches: developmental criminology, onset, desistance

  7. Routine activity / lifestyle exposure (victimization side)

    Harm taxonomy / user-vulnerability research

    Victimology methods translate directly into T&S harm taxonomy work: who is harmed, how, and what platform features structure that harm. Survey design and qualitative interviewing are immediately useful.

    Also matches: victim research, victimology

  8. Dark figure of crime

    Report-queue underreporting / harm gap analysis

    The dark-figure framework is largely missing from T&S. Bringing it in — parallel surveys, prevalence estimates, gap analysis — would reshape resource allocation. A genuine differentiator on a CV.

    Also matches: underreporting, unreported crime

  9. Hot spots / crime concentration

    Network clustering / infrastructure analysis

    Translate place-based concentration into network-based concentration. Graph analysis of bad-actor infrastructure is the closest analog and is heavily used in integrity work.

    Also matches: crime concentration, place-based crime

  10. Organized crime research

    Coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) investigations

    Network-analysis skills transfer directly to CIB investigations. The vocabulary changes — "network" becomes "cluster," "members" become "accounts" — but the analytical work is the same.

    Also matches: criminal networks, network analysis

  11. Procedural justice

    Appeals / recourse / due process

    Procedural-justice research is the empirical case for appeal systems that go beyond minimum DSA/OSA compliance. A clear T&S policy-team angle, particularly in regulated markets.

    Also matches: legitimacy, tyler

  12. Domestic violence / IPV research

    Technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) policy and product

    IPV expertise is the canonical pivot path into TFA policy. Frame your research as domain expertise in the exact harm category platforms are now operationalizing — particularly around account recovery and family-safety features.

    Also matches: ipv, domestic violence, coercive control

  13. Online sexual exploitation / CSAM

    Child safety investigations / detection policy

    CSAM is the most legally mandated and technically infrastructured area of T&S. Researchers with expertise here can move directly into child-safety policy or investigations roles at any platform with a CyberTipline obligation.

    Also matches: cse, csea, child sexual exploitation, child sexual abuse material, grooming

  14. Radicalization / extremism research

    DVE/HVE policy / threat-intelligence

    Extremism researchers can pivot into platform threat-intel or counter-terrorism policy roles. Cross-platform coordination via GIFCT is the operational frame; your literature is the basis for the policy.

    Also matches: radicalisation, extremism, violent extremism

  15. Fraud / financial crime research

    Marketplace integrity / payment-abuse policy

    Fraud research maps onto T&S at payments and marketplace platforms. KYC, SAR, and AML vocabulary will appear immediately; your criminology background gives you the conceptual fluency to engage with it credibly.

    Also matches: scam, romance scam, financial crime, money laundering

  16. Darknet markets research

    Threat intelligence / illicit-economy analysis

    Darknet research is a direct fit for threat-intel roles, particularly at platforms with exposure to illicit transactions (payments, marketplaces, gaming). Methodological credibility transfers immediately.

    Also matches: dark web, cryptomarket, silk road

  17. Survey methodology

    T&S user research / prevalence studies

    Survey design transfers cleanly — pitch yourself as the person who can run a platform-wide harm-prevalence survey rigorously enough to defend at audit. Few T&S teams have someone who can do this without third-party help.

    Also matches: victimization survey, ncvs

  18. Qualitative interviewing

    T&S user research / survivor interviewing

    Qualitative interviewing transfers to T&S user research, particularly with sensitive populations. The biggest adjustment is speed — five-day sprints, not multi-month studies — and consent-and-confidentiality processes calibrated to industry, not IRB.

    Also matches: semi-structured interview, qualitative interview

  19. Ethnography / fieldwork

    Contextual research / immersion studies

    Ethnographic skills are valued in T&S research roles, particularly at platforms studying community formation or illicit economies. Adjust to days-in-field rather than months, and one-page synthesis with quotes rather than monograph-length write-up.

    Also matches: fieldwork, participant observation

  20. Policy analysis / program evaluation

    T&S policy team / DSA/OSA compliance

    Policy and evaluation skills are an accessible entry point — particularly into operations/program-management roles staffing up for DSA and OSA compliance. Position yourself as the person who can connect a policy to a measurable outcome.

    Also matches: program evaluation, impact evaluation

  21. Mixed methods

    T&S research / harm-domain analysis

    Mixed-methods training is a strong fit for T&S research roles. Pair a small qualitative study with platform-scale quantitative work; this is exactly the dual register T&S decisions need.

    Also matches: mixed-methods, triangulation

  22. OSINT / open-source research

    T&S threat intelligence / investigations

    OSINT skills are directly applicable to T&S investigations and threat-intel teams. Tools like Maltego and SpiderFoot, plus social-network analysis, are routine. A portfolio of OSINT case studies is a strong CV addition.

    Also matches: open source intelligence, open-source investigation

  23. Generic criminology research

    T&S policy or research role (general)

    Start by identifying the specific T&S harm domain that maps to your research. Then write a short translation piece — blog post, SSRN preprint, policy memo — that names the connection explicitly. That becomes your calling card.