Historical Co-offending Networks: A Social Network Analysis Approach.

This article examines co-offending networks in a large English town, Cheltenham, during the Victorian period (1880–1890) using social network analysis (SNA) methods. It finds that co-offending was more prevalent in property crimes (28.84%) than in violent (5.25%) or victimless crimes (3.92%), with offending groups typically small (2–3 members) and composed mainly of young, unmarried males born locally. Network analysis reveals that violent and victimless crime co-offending networks were fragmented and loosely connected, whereas property crime networks included a loosely organized core connected by a few "broker" individuals who linked multiple groups. Additionally, co-offenders tended to associate assortatively by sex, age, and marital status, especially in property crimes. The study contributes to both criminology and crime history by applying SNA to historical data, highlighting patterns of group-based crime in the late nineteenth century while acknowledging limitations related to data completeness and generalizability.