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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
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Results for social networks
29 results foundAuthor: Nicholas, Roger Title: The Impact of Social Networks and Not-for-Profit Illicit Drug Dealing on Illicit Drug Markets in Australia Summary: This paper focuses on some of the dynamics at play in the lowest level of illicit drug retailing in Australia. It is not the purpose of this paper to fully document the functioning of these illicit drug markets. Rather, the aim is to point out some changes that appear to have occurred in the markets in recent years and to highlight some potential gaps in the knowledge base of the law enforcement sector concerning the functioning of these markets. The trafficking and retail sale of illicit drugs is, by definition, an illegal activity. The structure of illicit drug markets is often conceptualised as pyramidal, with a relatively small number of importers or producers of drugs at the top who sell their drugs to intermediaries, who on-sell them in ever decreasing quantities (perhaps involving some cutting of the drugs) until ultimately the drugs are sold at the retail level to consumers. The extent to which the supply pyramids are taller or flatter, and have longer or shorter supply chains, probably varies between different drugs and depends upon the modus operandi of the individuals and organisations involved in this trade. Some drugs such as cocaine, for example, appear to have very short, flat supply chains. Given that the supply of illicit drugs is illegal and can attract severe sanctions, it is reasonable to assume that, for the trade to occur,, there needs to be some combination of three factors present. The first of these is some form of motivation which, in the view of the offender, outweighs the severity of the sanctions which are likely to be imposed in the event of being apprehended for this offence. The second condition is a perception that the likelihood of being apprehended is such that the risk of involvement in the activities is considered reasonable. The third is a perception that the trafficking behaviour has become normalised and is not seen as criminal activity at all, or at least not an action with serious consequences. The most obvious motivation for trafficking and selling drugs is financial gain. This is clearly an important motivation for a large proportion of the (particularly upper level) supply chain. The major focus of this paper is the extent to which this profit motivation applies equally to all levels of the retail drug markets and to all drugs. Specifically, what is at issue are the motivations and dynamics that sit behind the transactions that occur at the lowest or retail level of the supply chain of illicit drugs in Australia. Without a good understanding of the motivations and modus operandi of all levels of the supply chain, it is very difficult for the law enforcement sector to effectively target its efforts. Details: Hobart, Tasmania: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, 2008. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper: Accessed April 12, 2011 at: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/The%20impact%20of%20social%20networks.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Australia URL: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/The%20impact%20of%20social%20networks.pdf Shelf Number: 121316 Keywords: Drug EnforcementDrug MarketsDrug TraffickingIllicit Drugs (Australia)Social Networks |
Author: Mennella, Antonella Title: Informal Social Networks, Organised Crime and Local Labour Market Summary: This paper’s purpose is to show a new informal social networks interpretation, according to which social networks change their nature if they are located in social contexts where organised crime is relevant. Here the perusal of a social network is just a necessary condition to enter the labour market rather than a deliberate choice. Moreover this labour market is the ground where favouritisms and social and electoral consensus policies take place. The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 presents a short review of the literature on informal social networks in labour market, Section 3 focuses on Italian economic literature on organised crime. The subsequent section highlights the new concept of informal social networks and explains the introduction of organised crime in the relationship between informal channels and labour market. The theoretical model, with the new three hypothesis, is developed in Section 5. Section 6 presents the econometric estimates and Section 7 closes the paper. Details: Rome: Dipartimento di Economia Università degli Studi Roma Tre Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper No. 126: Accessed January 10, 2012 at: http://dipeco.uniroma3.it/public/WP%20126%20Mennella%202011.pdf Year: 0 Country: Italy URL: http://dipeco.uniroma3.it/public/WP%20126%20Mennella%202011.pdf Shelf Number: 123551 Keywords: Economics of CrimeEmployment and CrimeOrganized Crime (Italy)Social Networks |
Author: Cahill, Meagan Title: Social Networks and Behaviors of Youth in the District of Columbia: An Interim Research Report Summary: The D.C. Crime Policy Institute, in partnership with Temple University, is conducting a study on the behavior and social networks of youths ages 14 to 21 in Washington, D.C. The study measures both positive activities (e.g., sports, after-school programs) and delinquent behaviors (e.g., theft, violence) and uses data on social networks to understand how relationships influence behavior and, in turn, to provide insight on how to best prevent youth involvement in delinquent or violent activity. Our preliminary analysis, outlined in this report, finds that nonpeer relationships (teachers, mentors, extended family members) may be just as important as peer relationships when examining delinquency and violence. Details: Washington, DC: District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute, Urban Institute, 2011. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 12, 2012 at http://www.dccrimepolicy.org/images/DCYouthSurveyFinalJan2012-web-posted2_2.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.dccrimepolicy.org/images/DCYouthSurveyFinalJan2012-web-posted2_2.pdf Shelf Number: 124102 Keywords: Juvenile DelinquencyJuveniles (District of Columbia)Social Networks |
Author: Roman, Caterina G. Title: Social Networks, Delinquency, and Gang Membership: Using a Neighborhood Framework to Examine the Influence of Network Composition and Structure in a Latino Community Summary: As part of the Social Networks, Delinquency, and Gang Membership project, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, social network data were collected from youth in a small, at-risk neighborhood. The data were analyzed using social network methods. Results indicated that individuals with multiple, separate groups of friends have greater constraints on their behavior and are less likely to be delinquent. Results also suggested that networks with very low densities (fewer connections) are more successful contexts for intervention. These findings are relevant to developing appropriate delinquency programs and shed light on the efficacy of neighborhood-based interventions. Details: Washington, DC: Department of Criminal Justice, The Urban Institute, 2012. 273p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 14, 2012 at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412519-Social-Networks-Delinquency-and-Gang-Membership.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412519-Social-Networks-Delinquency-and-Gang-Membership.pdf Shelf Number: 124532 Keywords: GangsJuvenile DelinquencyLatinosSocial NetworksYouth Gangs |
Author: Papachristos, Andrew V. Title: Social Networks and the Risk of Gunshot Injury Summary: Objectives: This study investigates the relationship between an individual’s position in a social network and the probability of being a victim of a fatal or non-fatal gunshot wound. Methods: This study combines detailed observational data from the police with records of fatal and non-fatal gunshot injuries among 763 individuals in Boston’s Cape Verdean community. After creating the social networks of these high-risk individuals, logistic regression is used to uncover the relationship between the odds of being a victim of a gunshot injury and various network characteristics. Results: The probability of gunshot victimization is directly related to one’s network distance to other gunshot victims - i.e., the closer someone is to a gunshot victim, the more likely that person is to also be a gunshot victim. This social distance to gunshot victims operates above and beyond other types of exposure to gun violence. Younger individuals, gang members, and individuals with a high density of gang members in their interpersonal networks are also at increased risk of being a gunshot victim. Conclusions: Risk of gunshot injuries in urban areas is more greatly concentrated than previously thought. While individual and neighborhood level risk factors contribute to the aggregate rates of violence, this study suggests that most of the actual risk of gun violence is concentrated in a small social network of identifiable individuals. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2011. 19p. Source: Working Paper Series: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2012 at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1772772 Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1772772 Shelf Number: 125042 Keywords: GunsInjurySocial NetworksVictimization |
Author: Jani, Nairruti Title: Exploring Vulnerability and Consent to Trafficking Related Migration: A Study of South Asian Bar Dancers Summary: Lack of resources in South Asian countries compel many people to migrate to other countries, some legally, others illegally. In 2005, Over 100,000 bar dancers in Mumbai became unemployed overnight when the state government banned bar dancing under international pressure. Some of these bar dancers were forced to become prostitutes; some others migrated to other countries, including U.S., for work (Chadha, 2007). While dancing in U.S., these girls are kept under heavy security, they are not allowed to talk to the patrons, nor are they allowed to go out of their designated apartment on their own. They are sent from one city to another city, and are generally unaware of their next destination. Even though these girls have migrated with their own will, their prison like situation suggests that they can be defined as victims of human trafficking. Even though the girls actually consented, they are subject to debt-bondage, earn very little income and are denied basic liberties. This ‘consensual trafficking’ has not been studied by the academic community or by the policy makers. This research studies bar dancers in U.S. and explores the factors which create vulnerability in bar dancers to consent to trafficking related migration. The main research question is (1) What are the reasons that create vulnerability among certain groups of people who either get trafficked or smuggled? This research explores a pioneering field of research which is a recent phenomenon. This qualitative research is based on grounded theory involving in-depth data collection from the informants and the researcher. The data collection was based on auto-ethnographic principles, where the researcher observes and interacts with participants and creates a detailed field note that includes researchers own perceptions about participant interactions. Findings indicate that the vulnerability to trafficking within south Asia is characterized by poverty, gender bias, caste or religion by birth, lack of education and lack of awareness. Single women are more prone to trafficking as they do not have any support systems and are required to feed themselves and their children. Lack of employable skill makes it difficult for them to find employment in South Asian competitive markets. Another significant finding is that positive social networks and family support reduced the risk of trafficking among South Asian women from rural areas to urban areas in South Asia. However, lack of family support got translated in lack of community networks for some victims who then chose to use unknown migration networks. Traffickers employed migration agents at rural areas who deceived many of South Asia women and lured them as well as their families by creating false dream jobs in foreign destinations. Some women got trapped in debt trap of these agents who paid the migration cost for the victims and enslaved them after reaching the destination. This finding relates to theory of social support, social exchange and migration theory of network. Lack of employment, increasing age, debts and acculturation in Mumbai bars were the primary contributors to South Asian bar dancers’ vulnerability to international trafficking. Older women and Muslim women were more prone to be trafficked to gulf countries where as Hindu girls and younger girls were trafficked to western countries. After the ban on dance bars in Mumbai the vulnerability of former bar dancers increased significantly due to reduced employment opportunities. Details: Arlington, TX: The University of Texas at Arlington, 2009. 184p. Source: Dissertation: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2012 at http://dspace.uta.edu/bitstream/handle/10106/2015/Jani_uta_2502D_10428.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2009 Country: Asia URL: http://dspace.uta.edu/bitstream/handle/10106/2015/Jani_uta_2502D_10428.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 126271 Keywords: Debt BondageEmploymentHuman TraffickingMigrationSocial NetworksUnemployment and CrimeVictimization |
Author: Papachristos, Andrew V. Title: The Small World of Al Capone: The Embedded Nature of Criminal and Legitimate Social Networks Summary: Everyone was guilty of a criminal o ense during U.S. Prohibition, but even the imbibing Chicogoans were concerned by the cozy relationships between politicians, union leaders, businessmen, and mobsters that had made their city infamous. This overlap between the legitimate and criminal words poses several empirical questions: what did such network embeddedness look like, who were the men straddling both words, what was their relationship to Al Capone, and what were their structural signatures within the legitimate and criminal networks? Whereas most of our understanding of this embeddedness problem relies on historical analyses, this paper reexamines organized crime through a new analytical lens| social network analysis. Using a unique relational dataset created by coding more than 4,000 pages of documents, our analysis reveals the precise ways in which the criminal networks associated with Al Capone overlapped with political and other legitimate networks. These new data and the use of social network analysis mark this study as perhaps the rst to (quite literally) map the world of organized crime in Prohibition Era Chicago. The ndings reveal a series of overlapping social networks of more than 1,500 individuals with more than 6,000 ties among and between them. We compare the structural signatures"|i.e., the various network characteristics|of organized crime gures who have been deemed important" from more traditional historical analyses with those deemed important from structural analysis. In short, this paper examines how legitimate and criminal networks coalesce to form the small world of Al Capone. Details: Amherst, MA: Harvard University and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2012. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 30, 2013 at: http://www.erdr.org/textes/papachristos_smith.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.erdr.org/textes/papachristos_smith.pdf Shelf Number: 127448 Keywords: Al CaponeCriminal NetworksOrganized Crime (U.S.)Prohibition EraSocial Networks |
Author: Katz, Ilan Title: Research on youth exposure to, and management of, cyberbullying incidents in Australia Summary: The Social Policy Research Centre was commissioned by the Australia Government, as part of its commitment to Enhance Online Safety for Children External Links icon , to investigate youth exposure to cyberbullying and how it is being managed. The report was developed in collaboration with National Children's and Youth Law Centre, the University of South Australia, the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, and the University of Western Sydney. The research shows that each year, one in five young Australians aged 8-17 are victims of cyberbullying. This behaviour is most prominent in children aged 10-15 years, with prevalence decreasing for 16-17 year-olds. The estimated number of children and young people who were victims of cyberbullying last year was approximately 463,000, with around 365,000 in the 10-15 age group. The report also notes that the prevalence of cyberbullying has 'rapidly increased' since it first emerged as a behaviour. The report indicates that the most appropriate way of addressing cyberbullying is to introduce a series of responses including restorative approaches, educating young people about the consequences of cyberbullying, and requiring social networking sites to take down offensive material. The findings are presented in three parts. Please click on the links below for the separate sections or see the synthesis report for the collated findings. Part A: The estimated prevalence of cyberbullying incidents involving Australian minors, based on a review of existing published research including how such incidents are currently being dealt with. Part B: The estimated prevalence of cyberbullying incidents involving Australian minors that are reported to police, community legal advice bodies and other related organisations, the nature of these incidents, and how such incidents are currently being dealt with. Part C: An evidence-based assessment to determine, if a new, simplified cyberbullying offence or a new civil enforcement regime were introduced, how such an offence or regime could be implemented, in conjunction with the existing criminal offences, to have the greatest material deterrent effect. Appendix A: Literature review - International responses to youth cyberbullying and current Australian legal context Appendix B: Findings of research with adult stakeholders Appendix C: Findings of research with youth Appendix D: Supplementary data and analysis Details: Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Australia, 2014. 8 parts Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 14, 2014 at: https://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/cyberbullying/ Year: 2014 Country: Australia URL: https://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/cyberbullying/ Shelf Number: 133046 Keywords: BullyingComputer CrimeCyberbullying (Australia)CybercrimeInternet CrimeJuvenile OffendersOnline CommunicationsOnline SafetySocial Networks |
Author: Mosca, Michele Title: The Reuse for Social Aims of Illegal Assets and the Competition Policy. A New Network Strategy to Defeat Organized Crime with It Same "Weapon" Summary: The economic theory of crime considers criminal a rational individual, maximiser and perfectly informed on the costs and benefits of his/her actions, or rather fully able to decide whether to assume a deviant behaviour rather than devoting himself/herself to a legal activity. Such abstraction involves a fundamental implication regarding the policy of prevention and fight against crime, in particular organised crime: if the choice to violate a norm is rational and sustained by a very serious evaluation of the consequent expected utility of this behaviour, a more rational system of penal justice is needed, to reduce its number. Nevertheless, nowadays several impedimental factors make it difficult to realise effective incentive policies against organised crime. This paper aims at analysing the role of reusing for social purposes of the assets confiscated from criminal organisations (currently regulated by the New Anti-Mafia Code, issued by Legislative Decree No. 159/2011) and intends to show - using a theoretical model based on the insights of the Social Network Analysis and Theory of Evolving Networks - that is possible to defeat criminal networks using the same "weapons" which criminal organizations use, that is the same social capital and those same network of relationships which constitute their strength. Details: Naples, IT: University of Naples Federico II, Department of Economics, 2012. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 11, 2015 at: http://www.siecon.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Mosca-Villani.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Italy URL: http://www.siecon.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Mosca-Villani.pdf Shelf Number: 134892 Keywords: Economics of CrimeOrganized Crime (Italy)Social Networks |
Author: Briggs, Rachel Title: Policy Briefing: Countering the Appeal of Extremism Online Summary: This report was commissioned by the Danish government and has been written by The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). It draws on discussions and conclusions from three days of meetings in Copenhagen in June 2013 with a range of relevant stakeholders to discuss ways of tackling online extremism. Co-organised by the Danish government and ISD, these international meetings involved academics, practitioners, central and local government policy makers, intelligence agencies and representatives from the private technology sector. The purpose of this paper is not to summarise those discussions, but drawing on them to offer a framework and series of recommendations for the ways that governments should structure and resource their responses to online extremism. The report offers the following findings and recommendations for governments: Extremists and violent extremists are using the Internet and social media to inspire, radicalise and recruit young people to their cause, whether as passive supporters, active enthusiasts or those willing to become operational. Not enough has been done to date to tackle the use of the Internet and social media by extremists and violent extremists. Most effort has been focused on negative measures, such as take-downs and filtering. While this is important, more focus and resources need to be invested to enable the silent majority to be better equipped to see through extremist propaganda, take control of online spaces, and actively push back on extremist messages. There are three areas where government should focus its efforts: Strengthening digital literacy and critical consumption among young people i. Governments should support mainstream digital literacy and critical consumption programmes through state schools and also support provision through youth and community organisations; ii. Governments should support at arm's length projects working with at risk youth to deconstruct extremist messages Increasing counter-messaging, counter-narrative and alternative narrative activity: i. Government strategic communications need to be centralised and coordinated, either through a dedicated unit or by assigning lead status to a single unit or department ii. Governments need to be realistic about the challenges that limit their ability to play an active 'messenger' role in counter-narrative, apart from in limited circumstances. iii. Governments should make significant investments in funding non-governmental organisations able to offer credible alternatives. Building the capacity of credible messengers: i. Governments should make significant investments in building the skills and expertise of the most effective counter-messengers to build their capacity in technology, production, communications, and campaigning. ii. Governments should use their convening power to bring the private tech sector to the table as their expertise can help the voices of credible messengers. iii. Governments should fund centralised information gathering to provide economies of scale and ensure that effective counter-messengers have the information they need to work, such as analytics, audience profiling, and the sharing of good practice in alternative and counter-narratives. iv. Government must work multilaterally to pool resources in this area, taking an active role in streamlining the cross-border exchange of expertise and lessons learned in capacity building. Details: London: Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2014. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2015 at: http://www.strategicdialogue.org/Inspire_Radicalize_Recruit.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://www.strategicdialogue.org/Inspire_Radicalize_Recruit.pdf Shelf Number: 135638 Keywords: Counter-RadicalizationExtremist GroupsOnline ExtremismRadical GroupsRadicalizationSocial Networks |
Author: Walther, Olivier J. Title: Mapping and Deterring Violent Extremist Networks in North-West Africa Summary: This article examines the structural and spatial organization of violent extremist organizations (VEOs) across the Sahara. Building on the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset (ACLED), a public collection of political violence data for developing states, the article investigates structural connections of VEOs and the effect of borders on the spatial patterns of armed groups. Social network analysis reveals that the network involving VEOs had a low density, a low level of transitivity, and contained few central actors, three typical characteristics of negative-tie networks. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is unquestionably the most connected VEO, which in purely network terms can be seen as a liability. Spatial analysis shows that, while violence was almost exclusively concentrated within Algeria between 1997 and 2004, cross-border movements intensified in the mid-2000s following the establishment of military bases by AQIM in Mali. As of late, VEOs have primarily concentrated their operations in Northern Mali as well as Southern Algeria, whereas Mauritania, Niger and Chad have been relatively unaffected. It follows that deterrence and containment strategies should be devised for regions rather than states. The findings have significant implications for multinational security and stability operations and the need to coordinate transnationally. Details: Sonderborg, Denmark: University of Southern Denmark, 2015. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Department of Border Region Studies Working Paper No. 04/15: Accessed August 3, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2593020 Year: 2015 Country: Africa URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2593020 Shelf Number: 136293 Keywords: Border SecurityExtremist GroupsSocial NetworksTerrorismTerroristsViolent Extremism |
Author: Smith, Christina M. Title: The Shifting Structure of Chicago's Organized Crime Network and the Women It Left Behind Summary: Women are underrepresented in crime and criminal economies compared to men. However, research on the gender gap in crime tends to not employ relational methods and theories, even though crime is often relational. In the predominantly male world of Chicago organized crime at the turn of the twentieth century existed a dynamic gender gap. Combining social network analysis and historical research methods to examine the case of organized crime in Chicago, I uncover a group of women who made up a substantial portion of the Chicago organized crime network from 1900 to 1919. Before Prohibition, women of organized crime operated brothels, trafficked other women, paid protection and graft fees, and attended political galas like the majority of their male counterparts. The 1920 US prohibition on the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol was an exogenous shock which centralized and expanded the organized crime network. This organizational restructuring mobilized hundreds of men and excluded women, even as women's criminal activities around Chicago were on the rise. Before Prohibition, women connected to organized crime primarily through the locations of their brothels, but, during Prohibition, relationships to associates of organized crime trumped locations as the means of connection. Relationships to organized crime were much more accessible to men than to women, and consequently gender inequality increased in the network. The empirical foundation of this research is 5,001 pages of archival documents used to create a relational database with information on 3,321 individuals and their 15,861 social relationships. This research introduces a unique measure of inequality in social networks and a relational theory of gender dynamics applicable to future research on organizations, criminal or otherwise. Details: Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2015. 233p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 17, 2016 at: http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1464&context=dissertations_2 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1464&context=dissertations_2 Shelf Number: 137867 Keywords: Criminal NetworksFemale OffendersOrganized CrimeSocial Networks |
Author: Mitchell, Kimberly J. Title: Youth Involvement in Sexting: Findings from the Youth Internet Safety Studies Summary: Several concerns have fueled the considerable attention to the problem of "youth sexting" among the media, parents, professionals, educators and law enforcement. (Sexting generally refers to sending sexual images and sometimes sexual texts via cell phone and other electronic devices.) One is that youth may be creating illegal child pornography, exposing them to possibly serious legal sanctions. Another is that youth may be jeopardizing futures by putting compromising, ineradicable images online that could be available to potential employers, academic institutions and family members. These concerns have been abetted by frequently cited statistics about the supposed widespread teen involvement in sexting. The most common reference has been to a National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy study showing that 20% of teens had sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves. However, this research as well as other often cited studies have flaws that compromise their findings. For example, the National Campaign study, used an Internet panel rather than a true population sample and included 18 and 19 year olds, and not just minors. Moreover, none of these studies has made distinctions that allow a careful assessment of the problem from a policy perspective. Studies have asked respondents about "nude or semi-nude", "nearly nude" or "sexually suggestive" images that might, in fact, be no more revealing than what someone might see at a beach. In some studies, sexting was defined to include text messages that could contain no images. And many studies did not distinguish between taking and sending an image of oneself as opposed to receiving or disseminating an image of another youth. For policy purposes, it is important to look at whether images are created or simply received and whether images might qualify as child pornography, but such information is not currently available. Details: Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Crimes Against Children Research Center, 2014. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 12, 2016 at: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/Sexting%204%20of%204%20YISS%20Bulletins%20Feb%202014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/Sexting%204%20of%204%20YISS%20Bulletins%20Feb%202014.pdf Shelf Number: 138184 Keywords: Child PornographyInternet CommunicationsInternet SafetySextingSocial Networks |
Author: Mitchell, Kimberly J. Title: Trends in Unwanted Sexual Solicitations: Findings from the Youth Internet Safety Studies Summary: There has been considerable and growing concern voiced by schools, parents and the public about what youth experience while using the Internet and other electronic technologies. The last decade saw significant and rapid changes in youth online activity: Internet use has now expanded to encompass almost all youth. Moreover, the nature of youth Internet use changed during this time with an increase in the use of cell‐ and smart‐phones, and the migration of adolescent social activity to social networking sites. However, this rapid expansion in technology use has occurred during a period of time in which child victimization has declined significantly. In 1999 and 2000, the first Youth Internet Safety Survey (YISS‐1) was conducted to address concerns about adults using the Internet to sexually solicit youth, young people encountering sexual material online and youth being threatened and harassed through the Internet. While YISS‐1 found that many youth who used the Internet encountered such episodes, most of these incidents were relatively mild and not very disturbing to youth. However, some were serious and distressing. We conducted the second Youth Internet Safety Survey (YISS‐2) in 2005 to reassess the extent to which young Internet users were encountering problems five years later, gauge whether the incidence and characteristics of these episodes had changed, explore new areas of interest, review emerging technologies, ascertain the effect those technologies have on the issue, and assess threats to youth. Compared to YISS‐1, the results of YISS‐2 showed that a smaller proportion of youth had received unwanted online sexual solicitations and a smaller proportion had interacted online with strangers. However, larger proportions of youth reported being exposed to pornography they did not want to see and were being harassed online. In 2010, the third Youth Internet Safety Survey (YISS‐3) was conducted to continue to track existing trends in the number and types of threats youth encounter using technology; assess risks of new behaviors and activities, including youth creating and distributing explicit images of themselves and/or peers; assess benefits and utilization of safety programs and technologies; and identify activities and behaviors most closely associated with risk. This document reviews key findings from YISS‐3. Details: Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Crimes Against Children Research Center, 2014. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 12, 2016 at: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/Sexual%20Solicitation%201%20of%204%20YISS%20Bulletins%20Feb%202014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/Sexual%20Solicitation%201%20of%204%20YISS%20Bulletins%20Feb%202014.pdf Shelf Number: 138185 Keywords: Child Pornography Child Sexual ExploitationInternet CommunicationsInternet Safety Online CommunicationsSexting Social MediaSocial Networks |
Author: Angus, Christopher Title: Cyberbullying of children Summary: The Internet, mobile phones, and other technological innovations have become entrenched in Australian life. These technologies create far-reaching benefits for youth. Nevertheless, these technologies have also introduced a tranche of online bullying behaviours known as cyberbullying, adding to the longstanding challenges associated with traditional school bullying. Cyberbullying has been an identified issue since at least the early 2000s; however, the issue has gained greater attention as more Australian children use social media and communication technologies more frequently. Cyberbullying can cause immense distress to young victims, including long term psychological and mental health damage, and in some cases suicide. Stopping this harmful behaviour has become a matter of high priority for authorities, and Australian schools in particular. While adults can be cyberbullied, or engage in cyberbullying, the focus of this e-brief is on children. The paper outlines cyberbullying's prevalence in Australia and its impact on individuals and schools. It discusses key government responses at the Commonwealth and State level, and international reviews of the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs. Details: Sydney: New South Wales Parliamentary Research Service, 2016. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: e-brief 2/2016: Accessed March 22, 2016 at: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/key/Cyberbullyingofchildren/$File/Cyberbullying%20of%20Children.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/publications.nsf/key/Cyberbullyingofchildren/$File/Cyberbullying%20of%20Children.pdf Shelf Number: 138369 Keywords: BullyingCyberbullyingInternet CrimesOnline VictimizationSocial Networks |
Author: Gunnell, Daniel Title: Social Network Analysis of an Urban Street Gang Using Police Intelligence Data Summary: As part of the Home Office's Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme a commitment was made to help police forces better understand their local gang issues (HM Government, 2013). This research aims to meet this commitment by testing the use of social network analysis using police intelligence data, as a tool to more systematically understand gangs and to help direct law enforcement activities. As such, the report serves as one example of how social network analysis can be used, but the approach could also be applied to other types of crime and disorder to explore the networks of people involved (such as those connected to acquisitive crime or sexual abuse). The research was undertaken in partnership with Great Manchester Police and addresses two research questions: 1. What can social network analysis tell us about gangs? 2. How useful are the social network analysis outputs for the police? For this, five individuals living in Manchester and identified as having gang links were chosen as the starting point for the network analysis. Further details about how to conduct social network analysis can be found in the 'How to guide' published as an annex to this report. Details: London: Home Office, 2016. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report 89: Accessed July 25, 2016 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/491578/horr89.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/491578/horr89.pdf Shelf Number: 139825 Keywords: Crime AnalysisPolice IntelligenceSocial NetworksStreet GangsYouth Gangs |
Author: Ferrara, Emilio Title: Visualizing Criminal Networks Reconstructed from Mobile Phone Records Summary: In the fight against the racketeering and terrorism, knowledge about the structure and the organization of criminal networks is of fundamental importance for both the investigations and the development of efficient strategies to prevent and restrain crimes. Intelligence agencies exploit information obtained from the analysis of large amounts of heterogeneous data deriving from various informative sources including the records of phone traffic, the social networks, surveillance data, interview data, experiential police data, and police intelligence files, to acquire knowledge about criminal networks and initiate accurate and destabilizing actions. In this context, visual representation techniques coordinate the exploration of the structure of the network together with the metrics of social network analysis. Nevertheless, the utility of visualization tools may become limited when the dimension and the complexity of the system under analysis grow beyond certain terms. In this paper we show how we employ some interactive visualization techniques to represent criminal and terrorist networks reconstructed from phone traffic data, namely foci, fisheye and geo-mapping network layouts. These methods allow the exploration of the network through animated transitions among visualization models and local enlargement techniques in order to improve the comprehension of interesting areas. By combining the features of the various visualization models it is possible to gain substantial enhancements with respect to classic visualization models, often unreadable in those cases of great complexity of the network. Details: Unpublished paper, 2014. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 8, 2016 at: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1210/datawiz2014_03.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1210/datawiz2014_03.pdf Shelf Number: 140350 Keywords: Criminal Networks Organized Crime Racketeering Social NetworksTerrorism |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Islamist Cyber Networks in Spanish Speaking Latin America Summary: Despite significant concern among policy, law enforcement and intelligence communities in the United States (U.S.) over the possible spread of radical Islamist thought throughout the world as part of a global jihad movement, there has been little investigation into the growing cyber networks in Latin America that promote strong anti-Semitic and anti-U.S. messages. This paper offers an overview of that network, focusing on the structure of Shi'ite websites that promote not only religious conversion but are also supportive of Iran - a designated State-sponsor of terrorism - , its nuclear program, Hezbollah and the "D Bolivarian revolution" led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his allies in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. There is also a smaller group of Sunni Muslim websites, mostly tied to the legacy organizations of the Muslim Brotherhood. Many of the Shi'ite websites are linked to each other consistently portray Israel as a Nazi State, and the United States as an imperialist war monger. The Palestinian issue is frequently juxtaposed with the anti-imperialist struggle that those states supporting Chavez' Bolivarian revolution claim to wage against the United States. Some of the Islamist websites claim thousands of new converts, but such claims are difficult to verify. Most of the websites visited touted the conversion of one or two individuals as significant victories and signs of progress, implying that there are few, if any, mass conversions. Details: Miami: Florida International University, Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, 2011. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 6, 2016 at: http://www.strategycenter.net/docLib/20111013_ICN_Farah_Sept11.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.strategycenter.net/docLib/20111013_ICN_Farah_Sept11.pdf Shelf Number: 140597 Keywords: Cyber NetworksIslamist NetworksLaw Enforcement IntelligenceRadical GroupsRadicalizationSocial NetworksTerrorism |
Author: Medina, Carlos Title: Peer Effects and Social Interactions of Crime: The Role of Classmates and Neighbors Summary: We analyze delinquent networks of adolescents and youth in Medellin, Colombia. Particularly, using a very detailed dataset of individuals attending schools during the years 2004 and 2005 and matching this data set with individuals who were captured during the period 2006-2010, we estimate peer effects on the likelihood to become a criminal, for a sample of students attending public schools, using as reference group individuals in their same grade, and also in their same the classroom. We estimate a social interaction model with a network structure, with the presence of endogenous, contextual, correlated and group fixed effects, following the identification strategies proposed by Lee (2007), Lee, Liu and Lin (2010), and Liu and Lee (2010). These methods satisfy the necessary and sufficient conditions for identification mentioned by Bramoull, Djebbari and Fortin (2009). We find that peer effects (endogenous effect) are positive and significant when our socio-matrices, "W", are constructed taking into account neighborhood-classmates and neighborhood-grade information. Details: Bogota: Banco de la Repblica, 2012. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 8, 2016 at: http://fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/165.peereffects.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Colombia URL: Shelf Number: 145081 Keywords: Delinquent NetworksJuvenile OffendersPeer EffectsSocial NetworksYoung Adult Offenders |
Author: Klausen, Jytte Title: Finding Online Extremists in Social Networks Summary: Online extremists in social networks pose a new form of threat to the general public. These extremists range from cyberbullies who harass innocent users to terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that use social networks to recruit and incite violence. Currently social networks suspend the accounts of such extremists in response to user complaints. The challenge is that these extremist users simply create new accounts and continue their activities. In this work we present a new set of operational capabilities to deal with the threat posed by online extremists in social networks. Using data from several hundred thousand extremist accounts on Twitter, we develop a behavioral model for these users, in particular what their accounts look like and who they connect with. This model is used to identify new extremist accounts by predicting if they will be suspended for extremist activity. We also use this model to track existing extremist users as they create new accounts by identifying if two accounts belong to the same user. Finally, we present a model for searching the social network to efficiently find suspended users' new accounts based on a variant of the classic Polya's urn setup. We find a simple characterization of the optimal search policy for this model under fairly general conditions. Our urn model and main theoretical results generalize easily to search problems in other fields. Details: Unpublished paper, 2016. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 23, 2016 at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3a42/19deb22b90f807cec920ade6470a7bd44c3b.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3a42/19deb22b90f807cec920ade6470a7bd44c3b.pdf Shelf Number: 147812 Keywords: Extremist GroupsExtremistsOnline ExtremismRadical GroupsSocial Networks |
Author: Agreste, Santa Title: Network Structure and Resilience of Mafia Syndicates Summary: In this paper we present the results of the study of Sicilian Mafia organization by using Social Network Analysis. The study investigates the network structure of a Mafia organization, describing its evolution and highlighting its plasticity to interventions targeting membership and its resilience to disruption caused by police operations. We analyze two different datasets about Mafia gangs built by examining different digital trails and judicial documents spanning a period of ten years: the former dataset includes the phone contacts among suspected individuals, the latter is constituted by the relationships among individuals actively involved in various criminal offenses. Our report illustrates the limits of traditional investigation methods like tapping: criminals high up in the organization hierarchy do not occupy the most central positions in the criminal network, and oftentimes do not appear in the reconstructed criminal network at all. However, we also suggest possible strategies of intervention, as we show that although criminal networks (i.e., the network encoding mobsters and crime relationships) are extremely resilient to different kind of attacks, contact networks (i.e., the network reporting suspects and reciprocated phone calls) are much more vulnerable and their analysis can yield extremely valuable insights. Details: Unpublished paper, 2015. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 23, 2016 at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.01608v1.pdf Year: 2015 Country: International URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.01608v1.pdf Shelf Number: 147811 Keywords: Criminal NetworksMafiaOrganized CrimeSocial Network AnalysisSocial Networks |
Author: Klausen, Jytte Title: The Role of Social Networks in the Evolution of Al Qaeda-Inspired Violent Extremism in the United States, 1990-2015 Summary: 1. Purpose of Study: This report analyses the networks and organizations that mobilize and direct Americans for jihadist action, or that raise money in the US for Hamas and Hezbollah. The study employs a quasi-experimental method using a control-case design, comparing the network structures of American terrorism offenders inspired by Hezbollah with those of Sunni extremist groups aligned with Al Qaeda, and in recent years ISIL. 2. The Problem: How and why do foreign terrorist organizations recruit Americans to their cause? Three answers have been proposed to this question: Homegrown terrorism is a tactic developed by the foreign terrorist organization to further its strategic interest in attacking Western targets. Command and control is essential to all terrorist organizations. Homegrown terrorism is essentially "leaderless". The root cause of militancy lies at home. US militants may declare allegiance to foreign terrorist organizations, but this is just a matter of aspiration. Terrorist groups are comprised of leaders and foot soldiers, and tailor their operations to meet strategic goals, including, perhaps most importantly, keeping their numbers up. An emphasis on recruitment requires an open structure; fundraising requires centralized control over the flow of money; plotting attacks needs a covert and decentralized and covert organization. 2. Data and Methodology: The data were collected as part of the Western Jihadism Project (WJP), a database of Western nationals associated with terrorist plots related to Al Qaeda and aligned groups, including ISIL, from the early 1990s to the end of 2015. Over the past twenty-five years, close to 800 residents or citizens of the U.S. have committed terrorism offenses inspired by one of the many Islamist terrorist groups that have been active in this country.Of these, about 560 may be described as "homegrown" terrorists: American citizens or residents who have been arrested or have died in incidents related to Al Qaeda and its many affiliates and successors. Foreigners who have attacked the United States, e.g. the September 11 hijackers, or have been brought to trial in the United States, are excluded from this estimate, and are not considered in this study. Data were also collected on Americans convicted on charges related to Hamas and Hezbollah in order to assess differences in network organization that are related to the particular objectives of international terrorist groups operating in the United States. All data were collected from court records and other public documentation. Data collection procedures were designed to facilitate social network analysis through the comprehensive coding of information about communications and relationship between known terrorist offenders. The study uses a method termed social network analysis (SNA). Developed by sociologists to study informal network dynamics, it has proved to be helpful in ascertaining structures, variations and patterns of change in terrorist organizations. 3. Key Findings: 2015 ended with a record number of arrests in the U.S. related to Salafi-jihadist inspired terrorism, the highest count since the 9/11 attacks. The 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings and the ability of home-based if not necessarily homegrown militants to carry out successful mass shooting attacks in 2015 and 2016 are further indications that the country faces a significant and growing threat from Americans who are inspired by the Salafi-jihadist ideology and who are guided by recruiters acting on behalf of foreign terrorist organizations. Islamist terrorism in the United States has taken many different forms. These range from the pyramidal hierarchy of the Brooklyn-based cell in the 1990s to the family-based criminal fundraising schemes run by Hamas and Hezbollah and the recent decentralized pop-up cells of Americans who have become enamored of the Islamic State’s propaganda. The 1993 Brooklyn-based cell was markedly hierarchical and typical for an enclave-based terrorist organization that combines proselytizing and recruitment with planning and mobilization for terrorism. It was therefore vulnerable to prosecution and suppression, and its legacy for jihadist terrorism in the Untied States was minimal. Only actors who escaped abroad were able to carry on. Hamas and Hezbollah have used the United States as a base for raising funds, and occasionally as a safe harbor for important operatives. They retained the character of diaspora organizations focused on supporting organizations in the Middle East and eschewed domestic recruitment and mobilization for violent action in the United States. Highly centralized and vertical networks, they tend to organize around large-scale family-based fraud conspiracies involving siblings, parents and children, spouses, in-laws, uncles, cousins, and even more distant relatives. While the cells lacked broader connections within the United States, they were linked to the mother organizations in Lebanon or Gaza, often through nodes placed outside the United States. The number of Americans who die abroad in connection with terrorist actions on behalf of foreign terrorist organizations has risen sharply in recent years. Homegrown American militants nearly always first want to go abroad to fight. Later, they may be turned around to carry out attacks at home—or if they are frustrated in their ambition to go abroad, choose to commit acts of terrorism at home. After the 9/11 attacks, jihadist recruitment in the United States recovered only slowly, facilitated by travel to Al Qaeda affiliates in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, and a web-based proselytizing and recruitment strategy. In the last two years, travel to territories controlled by ISIL produced an uptick in deaths. Recruitment networks funneling people abroad look very different from the networks of the past that were intent of organizing attacks at home. The Islamic State’s recruitment structure presents a classic pattern of what is known as a star network, i.e. a communication network in which all nodes are independently connected to one central unit, here the recruiters for the Islamic State. Flat, dispersed, and highly connected through the central hub, all traffic goes through the leadership based abroad. The peripheral nodes may be comprised of just one person linking up via a home computer or the node may be a pop-up cell of friends and family communicating with the central hub. But characteristically those on the periphery have little awareness of each other. The new network structure associated with social media recruitment prioritizes recruitment over exercising control and command of violent plots. It is inaccurate to say that it exemplified “leaderless” terrorism as all information and action scripts run through the central hub of the network, comprised of recruiters and middle-men acting on behalf of the ISIL. Jihadist recruitment has reached into small and mid-sized cities in every state of the country. The impact of online recruitment is evident in the diversity of American terrorism offenders, who today have come from forty different ethnicities and all races. In 2015 investigations related to the Islamic State were in progress in all fifty states. Given the extraordinary diversity of the American homegrown terrorism offenders, no common denominator and no common set of grievances, or even common motivations, can explain what makes a few individuals opt to join groups espousing violent jihad. 4. Inferences and Recommendations For Policy: Family members and spouses are often the first to know when a person is about to do something. American homegrown terrorists rebel against the nation and their parents, and against the American Muslim community. Establish a duty to report: State and federal laws should make it a duty to report suspicions about imminent criminal activity related to terrorism. The legal construction may mirror current rules regarding the obligation to report child abuse if the family member, teacher, or community member has “cause to believe” that a risk to the public exists. But what are bystanders supposed to see? There is a real risk that American Muslims will be unfairly stereotyped in the absence of a clearly formulated public education program that focus on signs of radicalization to violent extremism. Focus on community education: The growing involvement of converts and the diffusion of risk outside the metropolitan areas suggests a need to educate community leaders, teachers, prison wardens and social workers in the detection of the signs of dangerous radicalization. The number of Americans participating in lethal attacks abroad has increased. For this reason and because of the intimate connection between perpetrating an attack at home and going abroad—in whatever order— the expression of a desire to go abroad to fight for a jihadist organization should be treated as an immediate risk to homeland security. Disrupt and intercept travel to foreign terrorist organizations and insurgencies: Withdrawal of passports is one tool. Preventing the development of hidden communities of extremism should continue be a high priority. Radicalization takes place in online and offline networks and peer groups. Profile the networks: Social network analysis may provide a fuller picture of an individual’s risk profile if it is used to profile all contact points, ranging from social media networks to offline engagements with other militants. The focus should be on top-down suppression of the purveyors of extreme political violence rather than bottom-up elimination of militant social media activists. Many would-be terrorists are caught online. That does not mean that they radicalized online. Moreover, online data have proven of value to law enforcement. Suppress Internet Producers of Online Violent Extremism: Policy should focus on targeting and suppressing the recruiters rather than retail-level consumers of terrorist propaganda. Details: Final Report to the U.S. Department of Justice, 2016. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 22, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250416.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250416.pdf Shelf Number: 146964 Keywords: Al QaedaExtremistsHomegrown TerrorismHomeland SecurityISILIslamRadical GroupsSocial NetworksTerroristsViolent Extremism |
Author: Fainberg, Alisa Title: Spread the Word: Russia Social Media on the Service of Jihad Summary: The phenomenon of terrorists using the Internet for their purposes is not new: online activity of terrorist groups and terrorist individuals is registered since the late 1990s and thereafter underwent essential changes. Such an interest is caused first of all by those apparent advantages terrorists gained from the Internet: freedom from traditional media limitations, decentralization and safety, access to wider audience, etc. The engagement with cyberspace also changed the basic principles of communication within terrorist groups: from chain network to "all to all" communication, which in turn influenced many aspects of terrorist activity, such as propaganda, fundraising, etc. At the beginning, terrorist groups dealt with websites, and later on expanded their presence to forums and chatrooms, which, despite their effectiveness, still remained limited in reaching wide audiences, since were not highly publicized, and on the contrary, were frequently password-protected and used for inner communication. Nevertheless, there are online communication tools which were (and are) used by Al-Qaeda while planning the 9/11 terror attack and others. Also, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a successor of Osama bin Laden, places high emphasis on electronic warfare and "jihad of the bayan" (message). Today, due to such factors such as technological development and radical changes in the core of online communications, one can observe two main trends in terrorist online activity: grasping of popular social media networks and the dark web. While the dark web (as well as password-protected websites and forums) are used by terrorists mainly as a safe haven and for inner communication, mainstream websites and social media networks allow terrorist groups and individuals to turn their activities into borderless and cosmopolitan ones within the cyberspace and to get unparalleled tools for reaching out to as wide an audience as possible. Communication technologies used for planning and coordinating jihadists' actions, form the basis for a transition to a less organized structures and enhance the capacity of small terrorist groups, which are able to carry out their operations in a decentralized manner. Social media networks have become an integral part of jihadi groups' modus operandi and are used for the following purposes: offensive activities (gathering information on potential targets, threats of attacks, cyber attacks, etc.) operational uses (inner and outer communication, propaganda, radicalization, recruitment, fundraising, etc.) Despite the fact that the Islamic State group (ISIS) was obviously not the first terror organization to employ social media networks, the rise of ISIS has definitely highlighted the phenomenon, and tens (if not hundreds) of academic and media analytic papers were written on this subject. Indeed, without any doubts one may claim that it was the Islamic State (ISIS) group, who made the quantum leap and propelled jihadi involvement in online communication to the next level. Not least thanks to using internet technologies, ISIS has changed the very patterns of jihadi propaganda, and the full impact of these changes is still to be assessed. The group had developed a multidivisional media empire, which includes various divisions with certain specializations, such as al-Furkan Foundation, al-Hayat Media Center, al-Bayan Radio, etc., as well as smaller media groups targeting specific audiences in local languages. Social media networks became an essential part of that empire. Among other features characterizing ISIS' propaganda are wide coverage of audience, high diversity of propaganda materials, and active use of the most popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., which led to unprecedented ISIS expansion in the virtual world. For example, in just one month, from 17 September 2014 to 17 October 2014, the acronym "ISIS" was mentioned in Twitter about 4,000,000 times. Advantages terrorist groups gain from social media networks stem from their very nature. Each network is used according its general dedication: YouTube for uploading video materials (statements, footage, video games announcements, etc.), Twitter for real time updating, hashtags, and, for instance, for targeting Western news media in order to receive from them immediate reaction, etc. Moreover, democratic and dialogue-oriented, social media not just pushed the limits of propaganda distribution, but contributed to creation of a new form of jihadi propaganda - a public one, which is created, developed and distributed not by the official media centers of a particular terrorist group, but by its remote followers and supporters, who act at their own discretions. Seeking to expand their presence in social media for further advantages, ISIS media centers started to search for additional local social media platforms, and in 2013 put their attention to popular Russian social media networks: VKontakte (In Contact) and Odnoklassniki (Classmates), and for a relatively short period (compared to its presence on Facebook and Twitter) "occupied" these two with its propaganda activities. There are a number of pull factors which could explain such an attention of ISIS to the Runet (the Russian segment of Internet). First of all, Russian foreign fighters comprise a significant part of jihadists combating in Syria, and consequently are significant targets of ISIS propaganda. Secondly, until a certain point in 2014, Russian social media were hardly censored and security services did not initiate any measures against jihadi online activity in Vkontakte (VK) and Odnoklassniki (OK), which became another pulling factor for ISIS to turn its attention towards the Russian internet. This paper will examine the development of jihadist usage of Russian social media in the context of the branched system of ISIS' Russian-language media, the specifics of the message oriented toward Russian-speaking audience and translated through the platforms, as well as countering actions made by both government and private companies for a better understanding of the phenomenon. Details: Herzliya, Israel: International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, 2017. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 19, 2017 at: https://www.ict.org.il/Article/1987/russia-social-media-on-the-service-of-jihad Year: 2017 Country: Russia URL: https://www.ict.org.il/Article/1987/russia-social-media-on-the-service-of-jihad Shelf Number: 146266 Keywords: Islamist STateJihadist GroupsSocial MediaSocial NetworksTerrorismTerrorist Propaganda |
Author: Bennett, Magdalena Title: Better Together? Social Networks in Truancy and the Targeting of Treatment Summary: We use detailed administrative data to construct social networks based on students who miss class together. We simulate networks and use permutation tests to show that certain students systematically coordinate their absences. Leveraging a parent-information intervention on student absences, we find spillover effects from treated students onto peers in their network. We show that a simple optimaltargeting algorithm, which accounts for both direct effects and spillover effects subject to a budget constraint, can improve the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Details: Unpublished paper, 2017. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 15, 2017 at: http://www.columbia.edu/~psb2101/networks_paper.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.columbia.edu/~psb2101/networks_paper.pdf Shelf Number: 148179 Keywords: School Attendance Social NetworksStatus Offenders Truancy Truants |
Author: Livingstone, Sonia Title: Children's Online Activities, Risks and Safety: A Literature Review by the UKCCIS Evidence Group Summary: Research findings are vital to provide the evidence base to inform stakeholder actions designed to improve children's online safety. Evidence can help estimate the scale and scope of problems, and provides an often necessary corrective to unfounded public anxieties, informing policy and practice. It can track changes in children's practices, informing the updating of advice, helping to frame and understand complex questions to which we lack common-sense answers - for example, about the nature of children's vulnerability in digital media. It is also important to know where gaps in the evidence base exist. The UKCCIS Evidence Group identifies, evaluates and collates information from pertinent research findings, and communicates this to stakeholders with the aim of keeping UKCCIS, and the wider public, up to date. In 2010 and again in 2012, the Evidence Group reviewed the available research, recognising that children's engagement with the internet and associated digital media continues to change, with new risks and safety issues arising and, fortunately, new research conducted to guide policy and practice. By early 2017 it was judged timely to review the available research afresh which led to the report Children's online activities, risks and safety. Details: London: London School of Economics, 2017. 110p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 28, 2017 at: http://www.lse.ac.uk/business-and-consultancy/consulting/assets/documents/childrens-online-activities-risks-and-safety.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.lse.ac.uk/business-and-consultancy/consulting/assets/documents/childrens-online-activities-risks-and-safety.pdf Shelf Number: 148508 Keywords: Computer Crimes Internet Crimes Internet Safety Media Violence Online Safety Online Videos Pornography Social networks |
Author: Billings, Stephen B. Title: Hanging Out With the Usual Suspects: Neighborhood Peer Effects and Recidivism Summary: Social interactions within neighborhoods, schools and detention facilities are important determinants of criminal behavior. However, little is known about the degree to which neighborhood peers affect successful community re-entry following incarceration. This paper measures the influence of pre-incarceration social networks on recidivism by exploiting the fact that peers may be locked up when a prisoner returns home. Using detailed arrest and incarceration data that includes residential addresses for offenders, we find consistent and robust evidence that a former inmate is less likely to reoffend if more of his peers are held captive while he reintegrates into society. Details: Unpublished paper, 2017. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3144020 Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3144020 Shelf Number: 150110 Keywords: Neighborhoods and CrimePeer InfluenceRecidivismSocial Networks |
Author: Kelmendi, Vese Title: New Battlegrounds: Extremists Groups' Activity on Social Networks in Kosovo, Albania and Fyrom Summary: Online platforms are used extensively as a propaganda tool to convince young people to support the various groups fighting in Iraq and Syria. Many individuals outside of the conflict partake in propaganda efforts on social media, using their profiles to provide electronic support to ISIS and other extremist groups. An analysis of various profiles indicates that those engaged in the Syria conflict use their profile to disseminate information about the conflict, which can be used for propaganda. The typical feature observed across these profiles is the virtual association between them. Websites and profiles that share the online propaganda of extremist groups have been identified in Kosovo, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Albania. The distribution of this propaganda in the Albanian language by ISIS and other organizations has increased support for the so-called "Islamic State". Research on the social network activities of these various groups aims to explain the discourse of online sites that primarily promote ISIS, the content of these pages, their attitudes towards democratic processes such as elections and employment in secular state institutions, other religious communities, and state security institutions, as well as sermons on jihad and support for prominent members of various violent extremist groups. The methodology employed during the course of the research for this report involved the analysis of data and information gathered from within closed websites and social media groups/networks that are only accessible by invitation. The interactions within these 'closed' groups are more honest and less guarded than would be the case with an unrestricted, publicly viewable page. A precise description of the methodology has deliberately been avoided in order to prevent counter-measures being taken by the administrators of these closed groups. As will be made clear, this report is intended to mark the beginning on an ongoing process of monitoring of online radicalization in the Albanian language. The research is primarily based on three categories of online content: (i) extremist groups that are pro-violence; (ii) propaganda material, such as calls for jihad or for support for imprisoned imams; and (iii) trends and attitudes towards the state, institutions and society in general. To understand the importance of the Internet, namely of social network sites such as Facebook, YouTube and others, we have also analyzed some of the interviews of individuals formerly engaged in the conflict in Syria and Iraq. According to the interviewees, most of them used Facebook and YouTube to become informed of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, which is different compared to the online propaganda which was spread in EU member states, where twitter was used mostly. Moreover, the distressing images of civilians in Syria, the idea of assuming protagonism in creating Caliphate to fight for Jihad led to a number of individuals having an active role in the media. Their narrative echoes protection of Islam by repeatedly referring to what they call 'crusaders' as well as prioritizing their enemies such as Jews, Alewite communities and traditional preachers of Islam. Kosovo Prosecution files on individuals charged with criminal offenses, such as participation and recruitment in ISIS and other organizations, reveal that the defendants charged with participation in the wars in Syria and Iraq would communicate primarily through the Facebook chat app, as well as via different Vala and IPKO numbers. In their communications they have used different code words to signal their engagement in Syria.This includes coordination over the time of departure, and informing family members via SMS or Skype. The Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) has created a database that includes Facebook pages, YouTube channels and other sites promoting violence or propaganda about ISIS and other terrorist organizations. These pages represent calls to join fights in Syria and Iraq and make jihad and to be soldiers of Allah. The analysis of these Albanian language sites was conducted from December 2016 until May 2017. 60 Facebook pages, 4 closed groups and over 120 individual profiles and 6 YouTube channels were analyzed. Details: Kosovo: European Union, 2017. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 18, 2018 at: http://www.qkss.org/repository/docs/New_Batelgrounds_Extremist_Groups_in_Social_Media_738865.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Europe URL: http://www.qkss.org/repository/docs/New_Batelgrounds_Extremist_Groups_in_Social_Media_738865.pdf Shelf Number: 154064 Keywords: Albania Extremism Internet ISIS Islamic Extremists Islamic State Jihad Kosovo Online Platforms Online Radicalization Social Networks |
Author: Alexander, Audrey Title: Digital Decay?: Tracing Change over Time Among English-Language Islamic State Sympathizers on Twitter Summary: Until 2016, Twitter was the online platform of choice for English-language Islamic State (IS) sympathizers. As a result of Twitter's counter-extremism policies - including content removal - there has been a decline in activity by IS supporters. This outcome may suggest the company's efforts have been effective, but a deeper analysis reveals a complex, nonlinear portrait of decay. Such observations show that the fight against IS in the digital sphere is far from over. In order to examine this change over time, this report collects and reviews 845,646 tweets produced by 1,782 English-language pro-IS accounts from February 15, 2016 to May 1, 2017. This study finds that: - Twitter's policies hinder sympathizers on the platform, but counter-IS practitioners should not overstate the impact of these measures in the broader fight against the organization online. ‐ Most accounts lasted fewer than 50 days, and the network of sympathizers failed to draw the same number of followers over time. ‐ The decline in activity by English-language IS sympathizers is caused by Twitter suspensions and IS' strategic shift from Twitter to messaging platforms that offer encryption services. ‐ Silencing IS adherents on Twitter may produce unwanted side effects that challenge law enforcement's ability to detect and disrupt threats posed by violent extremists. - The rope connecting IS' base of sympathizers to the organization's top-down, central infrastructure is beginning to fray as followers stray from the agenda set for them by strategic communicators. - While IS' battlefield initiatives are a unifying theme among adherents on Twitter, the organization's strategic messaging output about these fronts receive varying degrees of attention from sympathizers. - Terrorist attacks do little to sustain the conversation among supporters on Twitter, despite substantive attention from IS leadership, central propaganda, and even Western mass media. ‐ Over time, there has been a decline in tweets following major attacks. This suggests that attacks in the West have diminishing effects in mobilizing support. - Current events - such as the attempted coup in Turkey and the 2016 U.S. presidential election - are among the most popular topics within the sample. ‐ Events unrelated directly to IS cause some of the greatest spikes in activity. ‐ These discussions are ongoing despite Twitter's policies. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations ‐ English-language IS sympathizers on Twitter defy straightforward analysis and convenient solutions. ‐ They are skilled problem-solvers in the digital sphere. Rather than ruminating over losses, angered adherents fight to be heard, either on Twitter or other digital platforms. ‐ Counter-IS practitioners must show a similar willingness to adapt and explore alternative ventures. ‐ While some collaboration is beneficial, the government cannot rely predominantly on the efforts of tech companies to counter IS and its supporters. Details: Washington, DC: George Washington University, 2017. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 18, 2018 at: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/DigitalDecayFinal_0.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/DigitalDecayFinal_0.pdf Shelf Number: 154039 Keywords: Counter-ExtremismExtremismSocial NetworksTerrorismTweetsTwitterViolent Extremism |
Author: Pavon Tercero, Viveca Title: Dynamics of Violence in El Salvador Summary: Central America is the deadliest region in the world. The UNODC reports that the level of violence in this region is higher than in any single nation, including those at war. El Salvador's 2015 homicide rate was listed as the highest for any country in nearly 20 years. This research seeks to better explain policies within El Salvador and how they continue to affect gang activities and crime. The research also seeks to fill in the gap on gang network dynamics and their level of power in affecting policies. I begin by exploring the policies implemented in the early 2000s and explaining how they have had a significant effect in gang development but also in political gain for acting parties. In an attempt to maintain control over a territory state leaders may chose policies that favor a public appearance of control. This study seeks to address if a country is willing to implement 'punitive populism' in exchange for votes by analyzing the case of El Salvador. I argue that despite numerous failed attempts at controlling violence through punitive policies the country continues to enforce these actions and use them as platforms for future elections. Chapter three in this research uses social network analysis (SNA) to identify the temporal relationship between paired municipalities according to homicide. This method looks at the interconnectivity of homicide counts from one year and the next between municipalities, meaning that it is evaluating how two seemingly distinct regions can be responding to each other when it comes to homicide rates. The idea is to identify which municipalities are responding to crime in other municipalities around the country. This becomes a critical aspect of violence in the country because gangs can react to a specific event by attacking regions where rival gangs operate, not necessarily adjacent areas. In this study I conducted a single datum correlation coefficient (SDCC) to create this network connection. Using SNA we can better identify what regions of the country are of interest during a specific point in time and can help policy makers establish areas needing additional backing. This novel method introduces a new way of observing criminal behavior and helps identify hubs of criminal activity as well as vulnerable relationships among municipalities which could be indicative of gang retaliation areas. The 2012 Peace agreement in El Salvador between Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 was an unprecedented truce between two of the deadliest rival gangs in Latin America. This agreement serves as an indication of cooperation with a greater purpose between groups that had been deemed unorganized. This raises concerns of what circumstances will facilitate cooperation between rival groups and what can be expected of this collaboration. Following the truce there was a genuine fear that gangs in El Salvador could become political actors by using Violent Lobbying and/or Violent Corruption. Even though the gangs have not proven to have political power there is still a fear that they can continue to influence politicians behind closed doors. This paper seeks to identify the tactics the gangs could use if they did attempt to lobby the state. These specific violent acts help us understand what pressures the government of El Salvador could have been facing that led to the truce being agreed upon. It also distinguishes what changes in violence the country experienced during and after the agreement. In order to identify these specific patterns I use event data analysis on newspaper stories from El Diario de Hoy to help identify is any coercive methods where used by las maras. These three chapters evaluate different aspects of violence in El Salvador originating from gang activity. I begin with a historical approach of policy implementation help introduce how the gangs developed and how they gained power to be able to influence violence beyond the reach of direct contiguity. I conclude by presenting past uses of violence with a direct purpose in order to understand the level of political power the gangs could obtain for future gain. Details: Dallas: University of Texas at Dallas, 2018. 126p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 18, 2019 at: http://libtreasures.utdallas.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10735.1/6315/ETD-5608-028-PAVONTERCERO-8728.63.pdf?sequence=5 Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador URL: http://libtreasures.utdallas.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10735.1/6315/ETD-5608-028-PAVONTERCERO-8728.63.pdf?sequence=5 Shelf Number: 154653 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Homicides Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Political Corruption Social Networks |