oa Visualiseren van sociale netwerken op basis van kwalitatieve bronnen

Visualizing social networks using qualitative data

Studying co-offending and group crime has contributed to our understanding of crime. Co-offending and group crime are studied through the analyses of social ties between offenders. Qualitative information on social ties is needed to get more insight in the ways offenders organize crime together. This contribution shows how sociograms of a criminal network can be constructed using qualitative information on social ties derived from court rulings and two journalistic books. Strengths and limitations are discussed and it is argued that a sociogram is a valuable instrument in the toolbox of a (qualitative) social science researcher interested in studying social ties.