Project information
Project name
The mechanisms of gang homicides – a social network analysis of Swedish street gangs
Doctoral student
Henrietta Johansson
Supervisor
Olof Reichenberg
Assistant supervisors
Giangiacomo Bravo, Ola Kronkvist
Timetable
1 Sept 2023–1 Sept 2028
Subject
Sociology, criminology (Department of Criminology and Police Work, Faculty of Social Sciences)
More about the project
Gun homicides and explosions related to organized crime have increased drastically over the past few years in Sweden. Since no other European country has experienced a corresponding development, the Swedish context becomes particularly important in order to understand the organizing mechanisms in street gangs.
Gang homicides are calculated crimes – linked with the organizational structure of the gang and affected by internal rules, geographical variables, and the prospect of criminal careers within the network. Therefore, the aim of this research is to understand the organizing mechanisms in Swedish street gangs through their co-offending network’s clustering – and the correlation between the network dynamics and firearm-related homicides.
Methodologically, the study combines qualitative and quantitative data through network analysis. This dissertation seeks to make a valuable contribution to the research field of organized crime, whilst providing insights on gang homicides to law-enforcement agencies and policy makers.
