It's Not What You Know--It's Who You Know That Counts: Analysing Serious Crime Groups as Social Networks

• NCJ Number: 191905
• Journal: British Journal of Criminology Volume: 41 Issue: 4 Dated: Autumn 2001 Pages: 580-594
• Author(s): Nigel Coles
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 15 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This paper draws attention to the failure by British criminologists to adopt social network analysis techniques and concepts in the investigation of criminal networks, particularly in the study of organized crime.

Abstract

The failure of criminologists to demonstrate beyond all doubt the existence of substantive criminal networks in the United Kingdom is due not to a lack of efforts by criminologists or because of the physical absence of such networks. Rather, it is because most of those who have conducted the search have not adopted some of the valuable conceptual tools available in related disciplines, even though these concepts could have allowed criminologists to construct useful hypotheses with which to recognize the existence of such networks. The disciplines of social psychology and social network analysis in particular have produced a number of valuable concepts that can suggest ways in which criminal networks, in theory at least, might be formed and subsequently function. The call to use such techniques has been made previously by several investigators, most notably by those engaged in criminal intelligence analysis roles. They have suggested that the key concepts of social network analysis -- such as the recognition of "social distance," the directional flow of exchanges between individuals, "relative influence," "centrality," and "group cohesiveness" -- are particularly applicable to the study of criminal networks. A recent investigation of British criminal networks has used a number of such techniques (McAndrew 1999a). The current paper argues that the use of social network analysis techniques within a broader conceptual framework constructed from a combination of Milgram's exposition of the "small-world" problem, Boissevain's discovery of "brokers," and Granovetter's "strength of weak ties" thesis offers a promising means of exploring the relational links that combine to form whole networks. 35 references