Specialization in Criminal Careers

TL;DR

This study analyzes criminal career specialization using a five-year dataset, revealing distinct socio-demographic, geographic, and network characteristics of specialists versus generalists, and providing a taxonomy of criminal specialization.

Contribution

It introduces a data-driven taxonomy of criminal specialization and examines socio-demographic, geographic, and network differences between specialists and generalists.

Findings

Specialists are generally older and more likely to be female.

Specialists operate within smaller geographic and network ranges.

Specialists are more embedded in criminal networks, indicating division of labor.

Abstract

We use a comprehensive longitudinal dataset on criminal acts over five years in a European country to study specialization in criminal careers. We cluster crime categories by their relative co-occurrence within criminal careers, deriving a natural, data-based taxonomy of criminal specialization. Defining specialists as active criminals who stay within one category of offending behavior, we study their socio-demographic attributes, geographic range, and positions in their collaboration networks, relative to their generalist counterparts. In comparison to generalists, specialists tend to be older, more likely to be female, operate within a smaller geographic range, and collaborate in smaller, more tightly-knit local networks. We observe that specialists are more intensely embedded in criminal networks and find evidence that specialization indeed reflects division of labor and organization.