RT Article
T1 To Blend in or Hide Out? A Network Analysis on Maritime Criminal Co-voyages in Taiwan
JF Journal of quantitative criminology
VO 40
IS 2
SP 373
OP 393
A1 Jiang, Yansheng
A1 Chang, Yi-chun 1932-
A1 Weng, Wei
A2 Chang, Yi-chun 1932-
A2 Weng, Wei
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1925590798
AB ObjectivesUnderstanding how covert networks are formed is key to disrupting the operation of illicit activities. Applying standard network measures to a covert network, while useful, is limited in identifying the peculiar properties of the network in question. It is important that we compare the covert network against a benchmark, be it random networks or, more ideally, the counterpart (overt) network in the same context. We report a study in collaboration with law enforcement agency to examine the co-voyage network of criminals and non-criminals. A comparison of the two groups of actors in their network positions allows us to test whether criminals tend to blend in or hide out from the population of non-criminals.MethodsDrawing on data on maritime activities in Taiwan recorded from years 2016 to 2018, we map a maritime co-voyage network of 53,009 nodes and 2,592,288 weighted links. We follow a bootstrap resampling procedure to estimate the structural features of the co-voyage networks of criminals and non-criminals.ResultsCriminals are more likely to co-voyage with their own type than non-criminals. Similarly, criminals are more clustered in the co-voyage network than non-criminals.ConclusionsIt is more supported that criminals segregate from than blend in non-criminals in the co-voyage network.
K1 Bootstrap resampling
K1 Co-voyage
K1 Complex Networks
K1 Crime and Technology
K1 Illicit Trade and Treasure Hunting
K1 Illicit networks
K1 Maritime crime
K1 Network clustering
K1 Network homophily
K1 Network topology
K1 Organized Crime
K1 Security
K1 Transnational Crime
DO 10.1007/s10940-023-09572-1