Not only has gang membership been expanding, but the formation of cooperative ties with Mexican drug trafficking organizations (MDTOs) has been increasing as well. Collaborative relationships with MDTOs appear to be the driving force behind the continuing gang expansion and its subsequent effects. Using social network analysis, this study examines the linkage between MDTOs and American-based gang activity and the potential influence that MDTOs may have in U.S. drug market through their associations with American street gangs. Findings show the MDTOs to be extensively linked to each other by their affiliations with U.S. gangs, and a high level of connectivity exists between U.S. gangs and MDTOs. In addition, various centrality measures indicate the Sinaloa Cartel to have the broadest reach into the illicit drug market, as this cartel is affiliated with the highest number of gangs. The current study provides support for the continuance of multijurisdictional collaboration, and reaffirms the need for law enforcement to continue to explore the non-traditional approaches to crime and intelligence analysis.

<p>The objective of the thesis is to study how contacts/relationships are established in prison, and whether this is of significance for co-offending. A further objective is that of studying co-offending among individuals classified as gang members. Data have been collected from the Register of Suspected Offenders for all individuals released from Swedish prisons over a period of six months (n=3,930). Data have also been collected for individuals deemed by prison service officials to be members of various gangs (n=1,310). Twelve individuals (four women and eight men) with experience of serving time in prison have been interviewed. </p><p>The results of the register study show that it is uncommon for individuals who have spent time together at the same prison to be suspected of committing offences together subsequent to release. This was the case for two percent of the entire study population and three percent of the gang members. The co-offending of different gangs has also been studied by means of network analysis. There are substantial variations between different gangs as regards the proportion of suspected offences involving gang members and other individuals respectively, as reflected in both direct and indirect links. The interview study shows that there are different reasons for wanting to establish contacts/relationships with others. For some the intention is to maintain contacts of value for future crimes. A number of different reasons emerged however for why such contacts are discontinued. Inmates return to their old friends, they are re-arrested, women find themselves back in the worlds of men, a long time may pass between the individuals’ respective release dates, they may live a long way apart or drug use, leading to the breakdown of contacts as a result. </p><p>The theoretical framework employed in the thesis proceeds from social exchange theory. For co-offending to take place subsequent to release from prison, the contact/relationship established in prison must be worth something. Trust, contacts with other criminals, the size of an individual’s criminal network, and criminal capital are all relevant in this context. </p>

The objective of the thesis is to study how contacts/relationships are established in prison, and whether this is of significance for co-offending. A further objective is that of studying co-offending among individuals classified as gang members. Data have been collected from the Register of Suspected Offenders for all individuals released from Swedish prisons over a period of six months (n=3,930). Data have also been collected for individuals deemed by prison service officials to be members of various gangs (n=1,310). Twelve individuals (four women and eight men) with experience of serving time in prison have been interviewed. The results of the register study show that it is uncommon for individuals who have spent time together at the same prison to be suspected of committing offences together subsequent to release. This was the case for two percent of the entire study population and three percent of the gang members. The co-offending of different gangs has also been studied by means of network analysis. There are substantial variations between different gangs as regards the proportion of suspected offences involving gang members and other individuals respectively, as reflected in both direct and indirect links. The interview study shows that there are different reasons for wanting to establish contacts/relationships with others. For some the intention is to maintain contacts of value for future crimes. A number of different reasons emerged however for why such contacts are discontinued. Inmates return to their old friends, they are re-arrested, women find themselves back in the worlds of men, a long time may pass between the individuals’ respective release dates, they may live a long way apart or drug use, leading to the breakdown of contacts as a result. The theoretical framework employed in the thesis proceeds from social exchange theory. For co-offending to take place subsequent to release from prison, the contact/relationship established in prison must be worth something. Trust, contacts with other criminals, the size of an individual’s criminal network, and criminal capital are all relevant in this context.

Objectif : L’étude s’intéresse aux pensées des femmes qui agressent sexuellement en compagnie d’un partenaire (en co-délinquance) et dont les actes sexuels sont perpétrés à l’égard d’enfants. Ce mémoire a pour objectif de comprendre de quelle manière les femmes de notre échantillon parlent de leurs délits afin de faire ressortir les thématiques abordées par celles-ci et de permettre de mieux comprendre comment ces pensées contribuent aux passages à l’acte, phénomènes qui sont encore trop peu étudiés et méconnus. Méthode : C’est par l’entremise de l’analyse secondaire des données de l’échantillon initial de Desfachelles (2014) que l’objectif a été atteint. Les entrevues de 16 femmes judiciarisées et incarcérées en France pour des délits d’ordre sexuel à l’égard de leurs enfants et en compagnie d’un partenaire (co-délinquant) ont été analysées. Dans l’analyse, les cognitions des participantes ont été extraites en privilégiant l’analyse thématique du discours. Résultats : Les analyses ont permis de trouver trois principaux thèmes. Le premier thème porte sur le blâme externe. Cinq sous-thèmes ont émergé dans cette catégorie, soit le blâme externe sur la victime, le partenaire intime, les états de consommation, les vulnérabilités personnelles présentées par ces femmes et sur la présence d’un climat de peur, d’emprise et de violence. Toutes les participantes de l’étude ont justifié leur participation aux délits par au moins un type de blâme externe. Le deuxième thème est le pouvoir du conjoint dans la relation amoureuse. Les analyses des résultats ont permis d’établir que ces femmes ne sont pas nécessairement contraintes à participer aux délits, mais qu’elles font le choix de remettre le pouvoir à leur partenaire. Le troisième thème retrouvé dans le discours des participantes est « Moi avant la victime » Primauté du bien-être personnel. Ce thème se scinde en deux sous-thèmes. Certaines participantes ont expliqué leur participation aux délits pour plaire au partenaire et pour obtenir des bénéfices personnels. D’autres ont révélé que leur bien-être personnel prime sur celui des victimes pour expliquer leur participation aux délits. Mots-clés : co-délinquance; délinquance sexuelle; cognitions; femmes. / Objective: This study examines the thought processes of women who have sexually assaulted their young children in company of a men. The aim of this thesis is to explore the way in which the women in our sample talk about their offenses in order to highlight core themes in their discourse. This will contribute to a better understanding of these women’s thoughts and cognitive processing of their offenses, along with how those thoughts may have contributed to their sexual offenses against children. Method: It was through the secondary analysis of data from the initial sample of Desfachelles (2014) that the objective was achieved. Interviews of 16 women convicted and incarcerated in France for sexual offenses against their children committed in company of a romantic partner were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Results: The analyses revealed three main themes. The first theme, External Blame, was comprised of five sub-themes, namely external blame on the victim, the intimate partner, a state of intoxication, their personal vulnerabilities, and fear, control, and violence. All of the participants in the present study justified their involvement in crime with at least one type of blame. The second theme to emerge was the power of the spouse in the romantic relationship. The analyses showed that these women were not necessarily forced to participate in the crimes, but that they made the choice to hand over power to their partner. The third theme revealed was "Me before the victim: The primacy of personal well-being.” This theme divides into two sub-themes. Some participants explained their involvement in crime to please the partner and to obtain personal benefits. Others revealed that their personal well-being took precedence over that of the victims in explaining their participation in the crimes. Keywords: female sexual offending; co-offending; cognitions; women.

The thesis was aimed to investigate the structure of a criminal network and how the EncroChat-communication- and co-offending-structure differs. To study this, a network analytical method was applied that resulted in four networks: co-offending according to the verdict, co-offending according to the prosecution, Encrochat-communication and a network where these three networks were merged. The results showed that the cooffending networks obtained a more compact composition than the EncroChatcommunication network. All networks had a dense core containing the most central actors, although some exceptions existed in the co-offending networks. The results of the network analysis indicated that the actors who committed the most crimes also communicated the most. The results also showed a partly different composition of other prominent actors in the network analysis than what the prosecutor presented. Therefore, network analysis can be used as an extra dimension in law enforcement work due to its function in identifying structures.

This study consisted of a social network analysis based on public verdicts with evidence from the encrypted service EncroChat. The aim of this study was to investigate different aspects within the network. The study related to two theories: differential association and social organization. Through the method of network analysis, the results showed that the data has many levels and that the network formation may shift appearance depending on analyzing perspective. It concludes that network leaders presented by the prosecutor do not have a central position according to the graphs and that women in the network are peripheral. The results showed cooperation within larger geographical areas which may suggest larger organization according to social organization theory. According to differential association theory there are reasons to suggest that the theory is applicable to the study. / Studien bestod av social nätverksanalys via offentligt material från en tingsrätt. Arbetet utgick från en specifik dom med huvudsaklig bevisning genom den krypterade tjänsten EncroChat och ytterligare domar samlades därefter in i en andra generation. Syftet var att studera olika aspekter av nätverket. Studien tog avstamp i två teorier; differentiella associationer och social organisationsteori. Genom social nätverksanalytisk metod visade studiens resultat att datamaterialet har många nivåer och att nätverkets sammansättning kan skifta beroende på analytiskt perspektiv. Analysen visade att åklagarens utpekade ledare av nätverket inte fick en central position i arbetets nätverksgrafer samt att kvinnor förekom i periferin. Resultaten visade även på samarbeten över större geografiska områden vilket kan indikera en större organisering utifrån social organisationsteori. Sett till teorin differentiella associationer fanns det goda skäl att anta att teorin var applicerbar gentemot studien.

Uno degli aspetti più documentati del comportamento deviante è che una porzione considerevole di reati è commessa da più persone che collaborano tra loro, e non da criminali che agiscono in autonomia. Oltre ad analizzare le caratteristiche della compartecipazione nei reati, alcuni studi recenti si sono focalizzati sulla comprensione della sua evoluzione lungo la carriera criminale dell’individuo, e sul suo impatto sulla traiettoria criminale. Il concetto di collaborazione criminale è particolarmente rilevante nel contesto dei gruppi criminali organizzati, per i quali le interazioni tra i membri costituiscono l’essenza del loro funzionamento, e i reati commessi sono spesso logisticamente complessi. Ciononostante, il fenomeno della collaborazione criminale ha ricevuto scarsa attenzione nella ricerca sulla criminalità organizzata, e nessuno studio analizza il suo ruolo nel definire la traiettoria criminale del singolo individuo che entra a fare parte di un'organizzazione criminale. Il presente studio mira a colmare questa lacuna in letteratura analizzando i dati sui 178.427 reati commessi da tutti gli 11.138 individui condannati per associazione mafiosa in Italia tra il 1985 e il 2017. I dati includono informazioni sull’eventuale concorso in reato per ogni crimine commesso. L’analisi condotta si avvale di diverse metodologie quantitative con lo scopo di fornire un quadro descrittivo della collaborazione criminale nella criminalità organizzata; determinare se i membri delle organizzazioni criminali hanno diverse traiettorie longitudinali di collaborazione criminale; comprendere quale sia l’impatto di commettere crimini in collaborazione con altri individui sul comportamento criminale futuro; e studiare come la collaborazione criminale sia correlata con il reclutamento nella criminalità organizzata. I risultati dell’analisi dimostrano che il concorso in reato non è una caratteristica incidentale dei crimini commessi dagli individui che fanno parte dei gruppi criminali organizzati. Alcune delle caratteristiche della collaborazione criminale nel contesto della criminalità organizzata riflettono i risultati principali ottenuti negli studi condotti in altre popolazioni criminali, ma emergono alcune peculiarità. Inoltre, il trend aggregato di compartecipazione nei reati dei mafiosi italiani può essere approssimato da cinque traiettorie che raggruppano individui con caratteristiche specifiche. Infine, la collaborazione criminale appare correlata con dei cambiamenti nei successivi comportamenti criminali degli individui: in particolare, è connessa a una più alta probabilità di commettere reati violenti, e di entrare a far parte dell’organizzazione criminale nel breve periodo. Lo studio discute questi risultati alla luce della letteratura sullo sviluppo dei comportamenti criminali per i membri dei gruppi criminali organizzati, e in relazione alla ricerca esistente sulle cause e conseguenze di commettere reati in collaborazione con altri individui. / One of the most documented findings on delinquent behavior is that many crimes are committed in the company of others rather than by solo offenders. Besides studying the characteristics of co-offending, recent works have focused on understanding its evolution over the individual criminal career, and its impact on the offending trajectory. Co-offending is especially relevant within organized criminal groups, where interactions among participating offenders constitute the core functioning of the criminal organization, and crimes committed are often logistically complex. In spite of this, few studies on co-offending in organized crime exist, and none of them investigates the role that co-offending has on the offending pathway of the single individual. This study addresses this gap in research by analyzing data on all the 178,427 crimes committed by 11,138 offenders convicted for mafia association in Italy between 1985 and 2017. The data set includes information on whether each crime was committed with accomplices. The analysis exploits different quantitative methodologies with the aim to describe the characteristics of co-offenses and co-offenders in organized crime; determine whether organized crime offenders have different longitudinal co-offending trajectories; investigate whether committing crimes with others impacts future offending; and understand how co-offending is related to recruitment into organized crime. Results demonstrate that co-offending is not an incidental feature of crimes committed by organized crime offenders. Some of the characteristics of co-offending in organized crime reflect findings from other offending samples, but some peculiarities emerge. Furthermore, the longitudinal co-offending behavior of Italian organized crime offenders is best approximated by five trajectories that group offenders with distinct characteristics. Finally, co-offending is related to changes in the future offending behavior of organized crime offenders: in particular, it is related to higher chances of engaging in violent forms of delinquency and experiencing organized crime recruitment in the short term. These findings are discussed in relation to both research on the developmental course of offending for members of organized criminal groups, and existing knowledge on the causes and consequences of offending with others.

Les premières études recensées ayant traité de la co-délinquance ont plus de cent ans. Comme il s’agit d’un sujet qui a de l’histoire, il y a eu une grande évolution dans la façon d’aborder la question et dans les méthodologies employées. Mais, ce n’est que depuis quelques années que la co-délinquance est étudiée par l’entremise de données d’arrestations policières et c’est ce type de données qui sera utilisé pour répondre à l’objectif principal, celui-ci étant la détermination des conditions expliquant le recours ou non à la co-délinquance pour commettre une infraction criminelle. De plus, pour répondre à notre objectif de recherche, nous avons opté pour une théorie structurante du crime, approche qui n’avait jamais été utilisé auparavant dans les études sur la co-délinquance. Comme méthodologie, nous avons utilisé un échantillon composé de 9 103 participations criminelles, de 8 243 événements distincts et de 3 356 individus et plusieurs prédicteurs ont été analysés afin de déterminer lesquels expliquent le mieux la co-délinquance. L’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels, l’urbanité et le type de crimes sont toutes des variables qui ont été considérées. L’urbanité représente une nouveauté dans ce type de recherche, puisque nous avons recensé que très peu d’études ayant abordées la question. Alors, que pour le type de crime, nous l’avons détaillé, comme aucune étude sur la co-délinquance ne l’a fait auparavant (23 catégories d’infractions). Ce détail nous permet donc de bien cibler l’impact de chaque délit sur le recours à la co-délinquance. Le résultat émergeant des analyses de régression logistique est que le recours à la co-délinquance s’explique principalement par le type de crime commis, certains actes criminels sont plus propices à la co-délinquance que d’autres. Nous constatons également que les autres variables analysées ont très peu ou pas d’impact sur le recours à la co-délinquance, que ce soit l’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels ou même l’urbanité. / First studies related to co-offending are more than a century old. Since this subject has greatly evolved during this time, the approach and the methodology used have been developed to follow the subject’s progression. But it is only in recent years that co-offending is studied through police arrest data and it is this type of data that will be used to meet the main objective which aims to be to determine conditions explaining the use or not to co-delinquency for committing a criminal offense. In addition, to meet our research objective, we opted for structuring a theory of the crime, an approach that had never been used before in studies of co-offending. As a methodology, we used a sample of 9 103 criminal participations, 8 243 separate events and 3 356 individuals and several predictors were analyzed to determine which best explain the co-offending. Age, gender, criminal history, urbanity and type of crimes are all variables that were considered. Urbanity is a novelty in this research, since we identified very few studies have addressed the issue. For the type of crime, we have detailed this variable as no studies on co-offending have done previously (23 categories of offenses). This detail allows us to identify the impact of each offense on the use of co-offending. The results obtained from the logistic regression analyze show that the use of co-offending is mainly due to the crime’s type; some crimes are more propitious to co-offending than others. We also find that other variables analyzed (age, gender, criminal history and urbanity) have little or no impact on the use of co-offending.

Les premières études recensées ayant traité de la co-délinquance ont plus de cent ans. Comme il s’agit d’un sujet qui a de l’histoire, il y a eu une grande évolution dans la façon d’aborder la question et dans les méthodologies employées. Mais, ce n’est que depuis quelques années que la co-délinquance est étudiée par l’entremise de données d’arrestations policières et c’est ce type de données qui sera utilisé pour répondre à l’objectif principal, celui-ci étant la détermination des conditions expliquant le recours ou non à la co-délinquance pour commettre une infraction criminelle. De plus, pour répondre à notre objectif de recherche, nous avons opté pour une théorie structurante du crime, approche qui n’avait jamais été utilisé auparavant dans les études sur la co-délinquance. Comme méthodologie, nous avons utilisé un échantillon composé de 9 103 participations criminelles, de 8 243 événements distincts et de 3 356 individus et plusieurs prédicteurs ont été analysés afin de déterminer lesquels expliquent le mieux la co-délinquance. L’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels, l’urbanité et le type de crimes sont toutes des variables qui ont été considérées. L’urbanité représente une nouveauté dans ce type de recherche, puisque nous avons recensé que très peu d’études ayant abordées la question. Alors, que pour le type de crime, nous l’avons détaillé, comme aucune étude sur la co-délinquance ne l’a fait auparavant (23 catégories d’infractions). Ce détail nous permet donc de bien cibler l’impact de chaque délit sur le recours à la co-délinquance. Le résultat émergeant des analyses de régression logistique est que le recours à la co-délinquance s’explique principalement par le type de crime commis, certains actes criminels sont plus propices à la co-délinquance que d’autres. Nous constatons également que les autres variables analysées ont très peu ou pas d’impact sur le recours à la co-délinquance, que ce soit l’âge, le genre, les antécédents criminels ou même l’urbanité. / First studies related to co-offending are more than a century old. Since this subject has greatly evolved during this time, the approach and the methodology used have been developed to follow the subject’s progression. But it is only in recent years that co-offending is studied through police arrest data and it is this type of data that will be used to meet the main objective which aims to be to determine conditions explaining the use or not to co-delinquency for committing a criminal offense. In addition, to meet our research objective, we opted for structuring a theory of the crime, an approach that had never been used before in studies of co-offending. As a methodology, we used a sample of 9 103 criminal participations, 8 243 separate events and 3 356 individuals and several predictors were analyzed to determine which best explain the co-offending. Age, gender, criminal history, urbanity and type of crimes are all variables that were considered. Urbanity is a novelty in this research, since we identified very few studies have addressed the issue. For the type of crime, we have detailed this variable as no studies on co-offending have done previously (23 categories of offenses). This detail allows us to identify the impact of each offense on the use of co-offending. The results obtained from the logistic regression analyze show that the use of co-offending is mainly due to the crime’s type; some crimes are more propitious to co-offending than others. We also find that other variables analyzed (age, gender, criminal history and urbanity) have little or no impact on the use of co-offending.