Compare and contrast the criminal careers of ‘starters’, the criminal careers of (ring) leaders and ‘nodal’ offenders, and elaborate on the importance of social ties and social opportunities. How does social opportunity theory explains why certain offenders ‘progress’ to certain types of organized crime whereas others become involved only later on in life? How does Edward R. Kleemans and Christianne J. de Poot’s article on criminal careers in organized explain phenomena such as ‘late starters’ – people without any appreciable criminal history – and people in conventional jobs who switch careers and become offenders. Elaborate on the mechanisms through which older offenders get involved in OC (focus on late starters) and provide some critical reflections.
GERBEN BRUINSMA1 & WIM BERNASCO spoke about criminal groups and transnational illegal markets. Their paper uses concepts from social network theory to describe and tentatively explain differences in social organization between criminal groups that perform three types of transnational illegal activities: smuggling and large-scale heroine trading, trafficking in women, and trading stolen cars. What are some of their conclusions in terms of cohesion, density, ethnic composition, etc.? GERBEN BRUINSMA1& WIM BERNASCO Criminal groups and transnational illegal markets, A more detailed examination on the basis of Social Network Theory. Discuss the authors’ conclusions and provide some critical reflections.
In the article “The truck driver who bought a café: Offenders on their involvement mechanisms for organized crime” M. Vere Van Koppen and Christianne J. De Poot identified a substantial number of adult-onset offenders engaged in organized crime activities. They argue that their involvement is explained by processes that differ from the mechanisms facilitating the engagement of early-onset offenders. Please describe the involvement process for the adult-onset offenders and specifically focus on social opportunities and social ties.
Make reference to M. Vere Van Koppen and Christianne J. De Poot (2013). The truck driver who bought a café: Offenders on their involvement mechanisms for organized crime, European Journal of Criminology, 10: 1, 74-88. Also, discuss additional literature if you want to and provide some critical reflections.
Discuss the importance of social ties and social opportunities for understanding offenders’ involvement in cybercrime. Have cybercrime and the digital era changed the ways in which criminals meet and collaborate? Refer to CYBERCRIMINAL NETWORKS, SOCIAL TIES AND ONLINE FORUMS: SOCIAL TIES VERSUS DIGITAL TIES WITHIN PHISHING AND MALWARE NETWORKSE. Rutger Leukfeldt*, Edward R. Kleemans and Wouter P. Stol. Also feel free to make reference to other examples/cases, and provide some critical reflections.
Explain David Matza’s neutralization technique “Denial of Injury” or “Denial of Victims” in the context of genocide (Holocaust or other). Make some references to Alexander Avarez’s article and provide examples.
