Social network analysis in criminology

Last updated

Social network analysis in criminology views social relationships in terms of network theory, consisting of nodes (representing individual actors within the network) and ties (which represent relationships between the individuals, such as offender movement, sub offenders, crime groups, etc.). These networks are often depicted in a social network diagram, where nodes are represented as vertices and ties are represented as edges.

Contents

Known scholars of social network analysis include Gisela Bichler, Lucia Summers, Carlo Morselli, Aili Malm, Jean McGloin, Jerzy Sarnecki, Diane Haynie, Andrew Papachristos, Mangai Natarajan, Francesco Calderoni, and David Bright.

Key terms

Offender Movement

The movement of deviants from one location to another (e.g. from home to the location of criminal acts).

Co-Offenders

When two or more distinct individuals who participate in a criminal act.

Crime Group

A social group, which participates in a criminal act. The group will often divide the labor in the act to maximize efficiency.

Key concepts

Crime Pattern Theory

Crime pattern theory consists of four key points: (1) that criminal events are complex, (2) that crime is not random, (3) that criminal opportunities are not random, and (4) that offenders and victims are not pathological in their use of time and space. [1]

Graph theory

Centrality measures are used to determine the relative importance of a vertex within the overall network (i.e. how influential a person is within a criminal network or, for locations, how important an area is to a criminal's behavior). There are four main centrality measures used in criminology network analysis:

Degree

Historically, the first and conceptually simplest is degree centrality, which is defined as the number of edges incident upon a vertex (i.e., the number of ties that a node has). The degree can be interpreted in terms of the immediate risk of a node for catching whatever is flowing through the network. In the case of a directed network (where ties have direction), it is usually defined as two separate measures of degree centrality, namely indegree and outdegree.

Betweenness

Betweenness centrality quantifies the number of times a vertex acts as a bridge along the shortest path between two other vertices. It was introduced as a measure for quantifying the control of a human on communication with other humans in a social network by Linton Freeman. In his conception, vertices that have a high probability to occur on a randomly chosen shortest path between two randomly chosen vertices have a high betweenness.

Eigenvector

Eigenvector is a term widely used in the linear algebra. Eigenvector centrality is a measure of the influence of a node in a network. It assigns relative scores to all vertices in the network based on the concept that connections to high-scoring vertices contribute more to the score of the vertex in question than equal connections to low-scoring vertices.

Closeness

The farness of a vertex is defined as the sum of its distances to all other vertices, and its closeness is defined as the inverse of the farness. Thus, the more central a vertex is, the lower its total distance to all other vertices. Closeness can be regarded as a measure of the speed at which information from one node spreads to all other nodes sequentially. In the classic definition of closeness centrality, the spread of information is modelled by the use of shortest paths. This model is considered to be one of the less accurate models for all types of communication scenarios.

Co-offenders

A case study of an illegal drug importation network, monitored by law-enforcement over a period of two years, revealed "how legitimate world actors contribute to structuring a criminal network." [2] It revealed "a minority of these actors were critical to the network in two ways: (1) they were active in bringing other participants (including traffickers) into the network; and (2) they were influential directors of relationships with both non-traffickers and traffickers." [2]

Malm and Bichler have also analyzed an illicit drugs commodity chain by identifying where collaborating actors who are located within the chain that links the raw materials to the market absorption, to understand how illicit markets function. [3] The created network captures the roles, functions, and structures of the groups involved in the illicit drug commodity chain and reveals the links in the supply chain (i.e. source, supply, sales, and feeders). The resiliency is determined by assessing the clusters in subgroups, identifying pivotal individuals holding central positions, and quantifying the potential to disrupt commodity and information flow by identifying the specific nodes to be removed for maximum effect. [3]

The application of social network analysis during the collaboration between criminals and terrorists when both use smuggling tunnels was explored by Lichtenwald and Perri. [4] Lichtenwald and Perri referenced many of the notable scholars and key papers in the field. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Offender movement

Explaining the linkage between urban planning and crime patterns, Brantingham [13] [14] argues that four factors – accessibility through high-volume transportation conduits, placement, juxtaposition, and the operation of facilities – can account for the criminogenic capacity of specific places. [15]

An individual's spatial awareness emerges from the routine travel to and from activity nodes (i.e. work, school, shopping, and recreation sites). This spatial awareness influences their behavior; offenders operate within their familiar settings, which are learned as the delinquent travels between activity nodes along constant paths. "Recent efforts to enhance journey-to-crime research: examine intraurban criminal migration using travel demand models; explore spatial-temporal constraints posed by routine activities; investigate how co-offending dynamics impact target selection; describe the journey away from crime sites; scrutinize subgroup variation; and assess the utility of distance decay models". [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victimology</span> Study of victimization

Victimology is the study of victimization, including the psychological effects on victims, the relationship between victims and offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system—that is, the police and courts, and corrections officials—and the connections between victims and other social groups and institutions, such as the media, businesses, and social movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal justice</span> Justice to those who have committed crimes

Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims. The primary institutions of the criminal justice system are the police, prosecution and defense lawyers, the courts and the prisons system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juvenile delinquency</span> Illegal behavior by minors

Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would otherwise be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term delinquent usually refers to juvenile delinquency, and is also generalised to refer to a young person who behaves an unacceptable way.

Geographic profiling is a criminal investigative methodology that analyzes the locations of a connected series of crimes to determine the most probable area of offender residence. By incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods, it assists in understanding spatial behaviour of an offender and focusing the investigation to a smaller area of the community. Typically used in cases of serial murder or rape, the technique helps police detectives prioritize information in large-scale major crime investigations that often involve hundreds or thousands of suspects and tips.

In graph theory, a clustering coefficient is a measure of the degree to which nodes in a graph tend to cluster together. Evidence suggests that in most real-world networks, and in particular social networks, nodes tend to create tightly knit groups characterised by a relatively high density of ties; this likelihood tends to be greater than the average probability of a tie randomly established between two nodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centrality</span> Degree of connectedness within a graph

In graph theory and network analysis, indicators of centrality assign numbers or rankings to nodes within a graph corresponding to their network position. Applications include identifying the most influential person(s) in a social network, key infrastructure nodes in the Internet or urban networks, super-spreaders of disease, and brain networks. Centrality concepts were first developed in social network analysis, and many of the terms used to measure centrality reflect their sociological origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental criminology</span>

Environmental criminology focuses on criminal patterns within particular built environments and analyzes the impacts of these external variables on people's cognitive behavior. It forms a part of criminology's Positivist School in that it applies the scientific method to examine the society that causes crime.

In graph theory, eigenvector centrality is a measure of the influence of a node in a connected network. Relative scores are assigned to all nodes in the network based on the concept that connections to high-scoring nodes contribute more to the score of the node in question than equal connections to low-scoring nodes. A high eigenvector score means that a node is connected to many nodes who themselves have high scores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Right realism</span>

Right realism, in criminology, also known as New Right Realism, Neo-Classicism, Neo-Positivism, or Neo-Conservatism, is the ideological polar opposite of left realism. It considers the phenomenon of crime from the perspective of political conservatism and asserts that it takes a more realistic view of the causes of crime and deviance, and identifies the best mechanisms for its control. Unlike the other schools of criminology, there is less emphasis on developing theories of causality in relation to crime and deviance. The school employs a rationalist, direct and scientific approach to policy-making for the prevention and control of crime. Some politicians who subscribe to the perspective may address aspects of crime policy in ideological terms by referring to freedom, justice, and responsibility. For example, they may be asserting that individual freedom should only be limited by a duty not to use force against others. This, however, does not reflect the genuine quality in the theoretical and academic work and the real contribution made to the nature of criminal behaviour by criminologists of the school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Positivist school (criminology)</span> School of thought in criminology

The Positivist School was founded by Cesare Lombroso and led by two others: Enrico Ferri and Raffaele Garofalo. In criminology, it has attempted to find scientific objectivity for the measurement and quantification of criminal behavior. Its method was developed by observing the characteristics of criminals to observe what may be the root cause of their behavior or actions. Since the Positivist's school of ideas came around, research revolving around its ideas has sought to identify some of the key differences between those who were deemed "criminals" and those who were not, often without considering flaws in the label of what a “criminal” is.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rational choice theory (criminology)</span> Crime is based on rational choices

In criminology, rational choice theory adopts a utilitarian belief that humans are reasoning actors who weigh means and ends, costs and benefits, in order to make a rational choice. This method was designed by Cornish and Clarke to assist in thinking about situational crime prevention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Routine activity theory</span> Theory in criminology

Routine activity theory is a sub-field of crime opportunity theory that focuses on situations of crimes. It was first proposed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen in their explanation of crime rate changes in the United States between 1947 and 1974. The theory has been extensively applied and has become one of the most cited theories in criminology. Unlike criminological theories of criminality, routine activity theory studies crime as an event, closely relates crime to its environment and emphasizes its ecological process, thereby diverting academic attention away from mere offenders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantitative methods in criminology</span>

Quantitative methods provide the primary research methods for studying the distribution and causes of crime. Quantitative methods provide numerous ways to obtain data that are useful to many aspects of society. The use of quantitative methods such as survey research, field research, and evaluation research as well as others. The data can, and is often, used by criminologists and other social scientists in making causal statements about variables being researched.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network science</span> Academic field

Network science is an academic field which studies complex networks such as telecommunication networks, computer networks, biological networks, cognitive and semantic networks, and social networks, considering distinct elements or actors represented by nodes and the connections between the elements or actors as links. The field draws on theories and methods including graph theory from mathematics, statistical mechanics from physics, data mining and information visualization from computer science, inferential modeling from statistics, and social structure from sociology. The United States National Research Council defines network science as "the study of network representations of physical, biological, and social phenomena leading to predictive models of these phenomena."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Closeness centrality</span> Concept in graph theory

In a connected graph, closeness centrality of a node is a measure of centrality in a network, calculated as the reciprocal of the sum of the length of the shortest paths between the node and all other nodes in the graph. Thus, the more central a node is, the closer it is to all other nodes.

The self-control theory of crime, often referred to as the general theory of crime, is a criminological theory about the lack of individual self-control as the main factor behind criminal behavior. The self-control theory of crime suggests that individuals who were ineffectually parented before the age of ten develop less self-control than individuals of approximately the same age who were raised with better parenting. Research has also found that low levels of self-control are correlated with criminal and impulsive conduct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Correlates of crime</span> Things associated with unlawful behavior

The correlates of crime explore the associations of specific non-criminal factors with specific crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betweenness centrality</span> Measure of a graphs centrality, based on shortest paths

In graph theory, betweenness centrality is a measure of centrality in a graph based on shortest paths. For every pair of vertices in a connected graph, there exists at least one shortest path between the vertices such that either the number of edges that the path passes through or the sum of the weights of the edges is minimized. The betweenness centrality for each vertex is the number of these shortest paths that pass through the vertex.

<i>Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency</i> Academic journal

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Criminology. The journal's editors Jean McGloin and Chris Sullivan. It has been in publication since 1964 and is currently published by SAGE Publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminology</span> Study of crime and criminal actions/behavior

Criminology is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behavioural and social sciences, which draws primarily upon the research of sociologists, political scientists, economists, legal sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, psychiatrists, social workers, biologists, social anthropologists, scholars of law and jurisprudence, as well as the processes that define administration of justice and the criminal justice system.

References

  1. ↑ Brantingham, P. L. & Brantigham, P. J. "Crime Pattern Theory" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-05-18.
  2. 1 2 Carlo Morselli and Cynthia Giguere (2006). Legitimate strengths in criminal networks. Crime, Law & Social Change, 185-200.
  3. 1 2 Aili Malm & Gisela Bichler (2011). "Networks of Collaborating Criminals: Assessing the Structural Vulnerability of Drug Markets". Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 48 (2): 271–297. doi:10.1177/0022427810391535. S2CID   146367842.
  4. ↑ Lichtenwald, T.G. & Perri, F.S. (2013). "Terrorist use of smuggling tunnels" (PDF). International Journal of Criminology and Sociology. 2: 210–226. doi:10.6000/1929-4409.2013.02.21.
  5. ↑ Papachristos, A. V. (2011). The coming of a networked criminology. In J. MacDonald (ED.), Measuring crime and criminality (pp. 101–140). New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.
  6. ↑ Morselli, C. (2009). Inside criminal networks, studies of organized crime. Springer Social Sciences-Criminology and Criminal Justice, 8, ISBN   978-0-387-09526-4.
  7. ↑ Malm, A. E., Kinney, J. B.,& Pollard, N.R. (2008). "Social network and Distance Correlates of Criminal Associates Involved in Illicit Drug Production". Security Journal. 21 (1–2): 77–94. doi:10.1057/palgrave.sj.8350069. S2CID   154289911.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Qin, J., Xu, J.J., Hu, D., Sageman, M., & Chen, H. (2005). Analyzing terrorist networks: A case study of the Global Salafi Jihad network. IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics, ISI 2005, Atlanta, GA, USA, May 19–20, 2005. Proceedings.
  9. ↑ Shelley, J., Picarelli, A.I., Hart, D.M., Craig-Hart, P.A., Williams, P., Simon, S., & Covill, L. (2005). "Methods and motives: Exploring links between transnational organized crime and international terrorism" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ Sageman, M. (2004). Understanding Terror Networks. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
  11. ↑ Snijders, T. A. B. (2001). "The statistical evaluation of social network dynamics". Sociological Methodology. 31: 361–95. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.11.1911 . doi:10.1111/0081-1750.00099.
  12. ↑ Coles, N. (2001). "It's not what you know-it's who you know that counts: Analyzing serious crime groups as social networks". British Journal of Criminology. 41 (4): 580–594. doi:10.1093/bjc/41.4.580.
  13. ↑ P. Brantingham & P. Brantingham (1994). "The Influence of Street Networks on the Patterning of Property Offenses" (PDF). In Clarke (ed.). Crime Prevention Studies. Vol. 2. Monsey, N.Y.: Criminal Justice Press.
  14. ↑ Brantingham, P. J., & Brantingham, P. L. (1998). "Environmental criminology: From theory to urban planning practice". Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention. 7: 31–60.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Bichler, Gisela M., Aili Malm, and Janet Enriquez (2010). "Magnetic Facilities: Identifying the Convergence Settings of Juvenile Delinquents". Crime & Delinquency. 60 (7): 1–28. doi:10.1177/0011128710382349. S2CID   146769456.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Bichler, Gisela C.-M., Jill Christie-Merral, and Dale Sechrest (2011). "Examining Juvenile Delinquency within Activity Space: Building a Context for Offender Travel Patterns". Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 48 (3): 472–506. doi:10.1177/0022427810393014. S2CID   145122715.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Selected bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.