Exploring Co-offending Networks by Considering Geographic Background: An Investigation of Electric Bicycle Thefts in Beijing

摘要

Co-offending refers to illegal activities that are committed by multiple parties together. Little attention has been paid to co-offenders' geographic background when examining co-offender groups. To investigate the impact of geographic homophilous relation on co-offending networks, we analyzed the offender data of electric bicycle thefts in Beijing between 2010 and 2012. Geographic information system and social network analysis methods were used. Three major findings are reported in this article. Most electric bicycle thieves in Beijing are immigrants to the city, and most of them are from a number of clustered places in Central China. Most co-offender groups are formed through inward offending ties, meaning that the co-offenders are from the same town or city; however, for the cross-area co-offenders, the co-offending networks tend to be complex. For the co-offending networks formed by cross-area co-offenders, a few key areas play important roles in the formation of co-offending networks as they supply more and dynamic co-offenders. The findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding and managing co-offending networks for Beijing's electric bicycle thefts.