This study aims to assess three related aspects of co-offending networks: (1) the characteristics of co-offending groups and the duration of group offending careers, (2) the impact of membership in co-offending groups on total offending and the length of individual offending careers, and (3) the impact of offender arrest (or changes in co-offending group structure) on the offending patterns of connected co-offenders.
Methods:
Data on sentenced burglary offenders (N = 270) in one county in Pennsylvania from 2001 to 2010 are used to examine the impact of co-offending group membership, as well as the relationship between the changing network structure and the offending patterns of connected co-offenders, within a two-level modeling framework.
Results:
Larger groups with more dispersed offending structures offend over the longest span. Additionally, membership in co-offending groups is associated with more total offending and a longer individual offending career. Finally, the arrest of structurally important offenders, compared to more peripheral offenders, is significantly associated with the decreased offending of connected co-offenders.
Conclusions:
The removal of a highly central “instigator” or “recruiter” is associated with desistance among connected co-offenders. Future research should examine the mechanisms behind these effects, and why the arrest of co-offending partners is associated with desistance.
AkersR. L.2009. Social Learning and Social Structure: A General Theory of Crime and Deviance. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
2.
AndresenM.FelsonM.. 2010. “The Impact of Co-offending.” British Journal of Criminology50:66–81.
3.
AndresenM.FelsonM.. 2011. “Co-offending and the Diversification of Crime Types.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology56:811–29.
CarringtonP. J.2002. “Group Crime in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Criminology44:277–315.
6.
CarringtonP. J.2009. “Co-offending and the Development of the Delinquent Career.” Criminology47:1295–329.
7.
ConwayK. P.McCordJ.. 2002. “A Longitudinal Examination of the Relation between Co-offending with Violent Accomplices and Violent Crime.” Aggressive Behavior28:97–108.
8.
CussonM.PinsonneaultP.. 1986. “The Decision to Give Up Crime.” Pp. 72–82 in The Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Approaches to Crime, edited by CornishD. B.ClarkeR. V.. New York: Springer.
9.
EricksonM. L.1971. “The Group Context of Delinquent Behavior.” Social Problems19:114.
10.
FelsonM.2003. “The Process of Co-offending.” Crime Prevention Studies16:149–67.
11.
FelsonM.2009. “The Natural History of Extended Co-offending.” Trends in Organized Crime12:159–65.
12.
HochstetlerA.2001. “Opportunities and Decisions: Interactional Dynamics in Robbery and Burglary Groups.” Criminology39:737–64.
13.
HodgsonB.CostelloA.. 2006. “The Prognostic Significance of Burglary in Company.” European Journal of Criminology3:115–19.
14.
KleinM. W.CrawfordL. Y.. 1967. “Groups, Gangs, and Cohesiveness.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency4:63–57.
15.
KreagerD. A.RulisonK.MoodyJ.. 2011. “Delinquency and the Structure of Adolescent Peer Groups.” Criminology49:95–127.
16.
KrebsV.2002. “Uncloaking Terrorist Networks.” First Monday, 7.
17.
LaubJ. H.SampsonR. J.. 2005. Shared Beginnings, Divergent Lives: Delinquent Boys to Age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
18.
LeendersR. T. A. J.1997. “Longitudinal Behavior of Network Structure and Actor Attributes: Modeling Interdependence of Contagion and Selection.” Pp. 165–84 in Evolution of Social Networks, edited by PatrickD.StokmanF.. New York: Gordon and Beach.
19.
MatzaD.1964. Delinquency and Drift. New York: John Wiley.
McAndrewD.2000. “The Structural Analysis of Criminal Networks.” Pp. 53–94 in The Social Psychology of Crime: Groups, Teams, and Networks, edited by CanterD. V.AlisonL.. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
22.
McCarthyB.HaganJ.. 2001. “When Crime Pays: Capital, Competence, and Criminal Success.” Social Forces79:1035–60.
23.
McGloinJ. M.NguyenH.. 2011. “The Importance of Studying Co-offending Networks for Criminological Theory and Policy.” Proceeding Third Annual Illicit Networks Workshop, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
24.
McGloinJ. M.NguyenH.. 2012. “It Was My Idea: Considering the Instigation of Co-offending.” Criminology50:463–94.
25.
McGloinJ. M.PiqueroA. R.. 2009. “I Wasn’t Alone: Collective Behaviour and Violent Delinquency.” The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Delinquency42:336–53.
26.
McGloinJ. M.PiqueroA. R.. 2010. “On the Relationship between Co-offending Network Redundancy and Offending Versatility.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency47:63–90.
27.
McGloinJ. M.Povitsky StickleW.. 2011. “Influence or Convenience? Disentangling Peer Influence and Co-offending for Chronic Offenders.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency48:419–47.
28.
McGloinJ. M.SullivanC. J.PiqueroA. R.BaconS.. 2008. “Investigating the Stability of Co-offending and Co-offenders among a Sample of Youthful Offenders.” Criminology46:155–88.
29.
MetcalfeC. F.BakerT.. 2014. “The Drift from Convention to Crime: Exploring the Relationship between Co-offending and Intermittency.” Criminal Justice and Behavior41:75–90.
30.
MorselliC.2009. Inside Criminal Networks. New York: Springer.
31.
MorselliC.TremblayP.. 2004. “Criminal Achievement, Offender Networks, and the Benefits of Low Self-control.” Criminology41:813–39.
32.
OuelletF.BoivinR.LeclercC.MorselliC.. 2013. “Friends with(out) Benefits: Co-offending and Re-arrest.” Global Crime14:141–54.
33.
PiqueroA. R.FarringtonD. P.BlumsteinA.. 2003. “The Criminal Career Paradigm.” Crime and Justice30:359.
34.
PiqueroA. R.FarringtonD. P.BlumsteinA.. 2007. Key Issues in Criminal Career Research. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
35.
RaudenbushS. W.BrykA. S.. 2002. Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
36.
ReissA. J.1986. “Co-offender Influences on Criminal Careers.” Pp. 121–60 in Criminal Careers and Career Criminals, edited by BlumsteinA.CohenJ.RothJ. A.VisherC. A.. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
37.
ReissA. J.1988. “Co-offending and Criminal Careers.” Crime and Justice10:117–70.
38.
ReissA. J.FarringtonD. P.. 1991. “Advancing Knowledge about Co-offending: Results from a Prospective Longitudinal Survey of London Males.” The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology82:360–95.
39.
SampsonR. J.LaubJ. H.. 1995. Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points through Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
40.
SutherlandE.1947. Principles of Criminology. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott.
41.
TremblayP.1993. “Searching for Suitable Co-offenders.” Pp. 17–36 in Routine Activity and Rational Choice, edited by ClarkeR. V.FelsonM.. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
42.
van MastrigtS. B.2008. “Co-offending: Relationships with Age, Gender, and Crime Type.” PhD dissertation, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
43.
van MastrigtS. B.FarringtonD. P.. 2009. “Co-offending, Age, Gender and Crime Type: Implications for Criminal Justice Policy.” British Journal of Criminology49:552–73.
44.
van MastrigtS. B.FarringtonD. P.. 2010. “Prevalence and Characteristics of Co-offending Recruiters.” Justice Quarterly28:1–35.
45.
WalshD.1986. Heavy Business: Commercial Burglary and Robbery. London, UK: Routledge.
46.
WarrM.1993. “Parents/Peers, and Delinquency.” Social Forces72:247–64.
47.
WarrM.1996. “Organization and Instigation in Delinquent Groups.” Criminology34:11–37.
48.
WarrM.1998. “Life-course Transitions and Desistance from Crime.” Criminology36:183–216.
49.
WarrM.2002. Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
50.
WassermanS.FaustK.. 1994. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
51.
WeermanF. M.2003. “Co-offending as Social Exchange: Explaining Characteristics of Co-offending.” British Journal of Criminology43:398–416.
52.
WeermanF. M.2014. “Theories of Co-offending.” Pp. 5173–84 in Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice, edited by BruinsmaG.WeisburdD.. New York: Springer.
53.
ZimringF. E.1981. “Kids, Groups, and Crime: Some Implications of a Well-known Secret.” The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology72:867–85.
