Historical co-offending networks: a social network analysis approach
Historical co-offending networks: a social network analysis approach
Recent decades have witnessed growing use of social network analysis (SNA) to study criminal activities, including that of co-offending. However, few studies have examined co-offending networks within a historical context. This paper focuses on group-based crime in a large English town during the Victorian period, employing SNA methods to examine the prevalence, structure and composition of co-offending relationships. Networks for property, violent and victimless crimes were partitioned to compare co-offending across crime categories. Results indicate that co-offending groups were typically segregated, although there was a loosely-organised community of property crime offenders connected by ‘brokers’ who collaborated with multiple groups. Evidence also suggests that co-offending was largely characterised by assortative mixing in regard to sex, age and marital status.
Co-offending, Crime History, Criminology, Group crime, Python, Social Network, Social Network Analysis, criminal networks, illicit networks, historical criminology, co-offending, NetworkX, group crime
1591-1611
Di Meo, Grace
a0ac3989-f216-4505-8f6a-97da47adfe45
1 November 2023
Di Meo, Grace
a0ac3989-f216-4505-8f6a-97da47adfe45
Di Meo, Grace
(2023)
Historical co-offending networks: a social network analysis approach.
British Journal of Criminology, 63 (6), .
(doi:10.1093/bjc/azad005).
Abstract
Recent decades have witnessed growing use of social network analysis (SNA) to study criminal activities, including that of co-offending. However, few studies have examined co-offending networks within a historical context. This paper focuses on group-based crime in a large English town during the Victorian period, employing SNA methods to examine the prevalence, structure and composition of co-offending relationships. Networks for property, violent and victimless crimes were partitioned to compare co-offending across crime categories. Results indicate that co-offending groups were typically segregated, although there was a loosely-organised community of property crime offenders connected by ‘brokers’ who collaborated with multiple groups. Evidence also suggests that co-offending was largely characterised by assortative mixing in regard to sex, age and marital status.
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azad005
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In preparation date: 1 February 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 9 March 2023
Published date: 1 November 2023
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© 2023 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Co-offending, Crime History, Criminology, Group crime, Python, Social Network, Social Network Analysis, criminal networks, illicit networks, historical criminology, co-offending, NetworkX, group crime
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Local EPrints ID: 475209
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/475209
ISSN: 0007-0955
PURE UUID: 50f92ddd-95d5-44ce-ab2a-c996a854a630
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Date deposited: 14 Mar 2023 17:36
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 00:43
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Author:
Grace Di Meo
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