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Using Social Network Analysis to Design Crime Prevention Strategies: A Case Study of Methamphetamine Manufacture and Trafficking

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Crime Prevention in the 21st Century

Abstract

Most previous research using social network analysis (SNA) to study criminal networks has focused on describing network structure and on identifying key actors in networks. Results of such research usually have implications for law enforcement interventions designed to dismantle and disrupt criminal networks after they are formed. Relatively little attention has been paid to the potential for SNA to aid in the development of crime prevention strategies against organized crimes such as drug trafficking. In this chapter, a case study of a methamphetamine manufacture and trafficking group is presented. The network is analyzed using social network analysis and crime script analysis with the aim of generating a series of crime prevention strategies. Crime prevention strategies are suggested across two broad levels: (1) the crime commission process including the activities and resources required to commit the particular crime; and (2) the criminal network that supports and carries out the activities in the crime commission process.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Data was used in a previous study on the evolution of criminal networks; see Bright & Delaney, 2013).

  2. 2.

    The “unknown” status may be a result of his high brokerage and low degree. Law enforcement may not have identified this actor as important either because he was not well connected and/or because he appeared to play only a minor role.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    David A. Bright

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  1. David A. Bright
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Correspondence to David A. Bright .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Benoit LeClerc

  2. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore-Transcrime, Milano, Italy

    Ernesto U. Savona

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Bright, D.A. (2017). Using Social Network Analysis to Design Crime Prevention Strategies: A Case Study of Methamphetamine Manufacture and Trafficking. In: LeClerc, B., Savona, E. (eds) Crime Prevention in the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27793-6_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27793-6_11

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