Networks of Crime in Europe

Macro, Meso and Micro Networks of Crime

Antonius Spapens, from the Tilburg University, made a contribution to the 2012 Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, in the category “Criminological Theory, Research and Education,” under the title “Macro, Meso and Micro Networks of Crime”. Here is the abstract: In the past decade, the network approach to organized crime has quickly gained momentum and criminologists now also started to apply it to other types of crime involving co-offending. An important goal of this research is to map out how members of criminal networks cooperate and to explore how such networks can be destabilized more effectively. Up until now, however, most research focuses on the micro-level of networks, i.e. criminal groups. However, 'micro-networks' do not operate in a vacuum but are part of larger entities: criminal macro and meso networks. Theoretically, the macro network is a worldwide network, consisting of (potential) offenders tied by criminal relations. In practice the macro network clusters into smaller boxes, I here define as meso networks. This paper addresses how meso networks behave, and what the implications of taking this perspective are for both the criminological study of networks and for destabilizing them.

Resources

See Also

Further Reading

• “Macro, Meso and Micro Networks of Crime”, by Antonius Spapens (Proceedings)