From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcopycat crime/attack etccopycat crime/attack etca crime, attack etc which is similar to a famous crime that another person has committed Crime reports in newspapers often encourage copycat crimes. → copycat
Examples from the Corpus
copycat crime/attack etc• However, 44% of you feel that these reports should leave the gory details out and 39% feel they encourage copycat crimes.• What about fingerprints, copycat crimes and serial murders? 