Co-Offending Among Immigrants in Norway

• In Event: Criminal Network Analysis: Applications of Social Network Analysis to the Study of Co-Offending, Gangs and Violence

Abstract

The processes whereby newly arrived immigrants become engaged in criminal behavior in their host countries have received ample attention in the literature. An important question that is of both theory and policy relevance is how immigrants acquire information about and gain access to the local criminal opportunity structures, i.e., how they develop local criminal capital. One important way in which this may happen is through the act of co-offending, i.e. through the joint commission of an offense by two or more offenders. While theoretically salient, the precursors, characteristics and consequences of co-offending among immigrants remain more or less open empirical questions. The current analysis therefore seeks to explore the prevalence and characteristics of co-offending among immigrants in Norway, focusing on the early parts of their (Norwegian) criminal career. Two empirical questions are assessed. First, with whom do newly arrived immigrants co-offend, and second, what characterizes the co-offending networks they gain access to as a consequence? While the first question focuses on dyadic co-offending ties, the latter focuses on (whole) co-offending networks. All analyses are based on administrative data covering the full population of Norway, and variations across immigrant groups and crime types are explored.

Author

• Synove Andersen, Statistics Norway