crim-topic-selection — independently scanned and version-tracked by SaferSkills.
SaferSkills independently audited crim-topic-selection (Agent Skill) and scored it 100/100 (green). The audit ran 55 deterministic rules across Security, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Transparency, and Community; it found 0 high-severity and 0 lower-severity findings. The full rule-by-rule trace and per-finding evidence are below. Free, methodology-open.
Findings & checks · 0 flagged
Every scanned point with the score it earned and what moved between them.
First recorded scan — no prior version to compare against.
The primary manifest — the file an agent reads to learn what this artifact does.
Criminology is the general flagship of the field, not a regional or specialty outlet. The bar is not "new to my dataset" — it is "advances how criminology understands crime, deviance, or its control." Use this skill to pressure-test fit before you invest.
A strong Criminology paper usually clears all four:
offending, the age–crime curve, criminal careers and desistance, victimization, deterrence, neighborhoods and crime, or the legitimacy/effects of the criminal-legal system — not just one jurisdiction's numbers.
theory (strain, control, social learning, life-course, routine activity, labeling, procedural justice), or it advances measurement.
but each must be rigorous (see crim-research-design).
crisp point, an Article carries a full argument.
| Looks like… | Reframe toward Criminology by… |
|---|---|
| A program evaluation | foregrounding the criminological mechanism the program reveals (sister journal CPP is the policy outlet) |
| A sociology paper that happens to use crime | tying it to a criminological theory and to the field's debates |
| A descriptive crime-trend report | asking what it tells us about why offending varies, not just that it does |
| A pure methods demo | showing the substantive criminological question the method newly answers |
a targeted reappraisal). Do not pad it into an Article; check the live Wiley Research Note description for the current numeric cap before committing to the format.
Criminology is the official journal of the American Society of Criminology, published by Wiley, and its editorial team triages hard at the desk. The disposition column is the common pattern, not a rule — editor discretion governs, so confirm scope wording against the journal's current submission guidelines.
| Manuscript signal at the desk | Likely editor read | Typical disposition |
|---|---|---|
| New crime correlation, theory only named | "invoked, not tested" | desk-return |
| Single-agency program evaluation | belongs at Criminology & Public Policy | redirect to sister journal |
| Strong design, weak mechanism link | sound but generic | review, low enthusiasm |
| Theory test + within-person ID + measured offending | flagship-shaped | expert review |
Diagnostic the desk applies: would a criminologist studying a different offense, cohort, or place change how they think after reading this? A "no" predicts a return; a "yes" predicts review.
A researcher has 15 waves of offender data (illustrative) and finds men who marry between waves report about 40% fewer self-reported offenses. The between-person 40% gap is weak fit; reframed as "does entering marriage produce within-person desistance net of selection" it tests Sampson and Laub's age-graded informal social control against a self-selection rival, and becomes a flagship-level Article.
【Question】one sentence
【Criminological significance】which core debate it advances, and why it travels
【Contribution type】theory test / extension / adjudication / measurement / reappraisal
【Type】Article / Research Note
【Fit verdict】strong / needs reframing / better at a sister journal (why)
【Next】crim-literature-positioning../../resources/external_tools.md — crime and life-course data sources../../resources/official-source-map.md — Criminology scope, article types, sister-journal distinction~30 seconds. Free. No account. Every finding cites a rule and a line of evidence.