Social Network Analysis for Law Enforcement

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a way of understanding human behavior (including crime) through people’s relations and interactions. In addition, SNA provides analysts with an important set of analytic tools to study this behavior (McGloin & Kirk, 2010, p. 169). This paper focuses on SNA’s contribution to helping understand criminal networks, co-offending patterns, and victimization. Primarily, the usefulness of SNA to law enforcement hinges on the fact that knowing who a person associates with (whether s/he be a suspect, victim, or potential witness) can aid in predicting that person’s future movements.

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Publication Date: February 2018