Social media and organizing violent crime against persons and properties: a qualitative analysis of online criminal communication between young offenders based on seized telephone information

Abstract This article provides a qualitative analysis of online communication between young offenders organizing violent crime against persons and properties. The analysis is based on a unique data source for criminological research, deciphered chat messages on seized telephones from youngsters involved in six extensive Dutch police investigations into four types of violent crime: street robberies, house robberies, stabbings, and explosive detonations targeted at private dwellings. The analysis focuses on the four different phases of the crime script model: the preparation phase, pre-activity phase, activity phase, and post-activity phase. The results show that youngsters are communicating with each other in all phases of the crime script, although communication is most intense in the preparation phase. This phase consists of two parts, orientation, and concrete preparation. The orientation phase relates to offender convergence, for which two separate tracks can be distinguished (a track with horizontal relations and a track with vertical relations), premeditation of the crime, and target- and victim selection. The concrete preparation phase includes deciding on means and methods, location, time, and very practical preparations (tools, clothes, and transport). During the pre-activity phase, youngsters keep each other updated online about their journey to the location of the violent crime. During the activity phase, hardly any online communication is present. After the crime has taken place, in the post-activity phase, youngsters communicate about the escape from the crime scene and evaluate the criminal activities. The analysis shows that social media and online interaction have profound consequences for offender convergence (distinguishing two tracks) and the execution of criminal activities. Track 1 (horizontal relations) shows that social media provide ‘equal status’ offenders with the opportunity to put vague intentions into collective action. It also shows how slumbering conflicts get ‘sticky’ or escalate through wider social network effects: the ‘digital street’ intertwines with real life and – through online connections - also easily gets more crowded and agitated. Track 2 (vertical relations) shows that social media provide two solutions for ‘principal-agent problems’ in co-offending. First, social media make it easier to find a suitable co-offender at a specific time and place for a specific high-risk job (such as placing and detonating explosives). Second, monitoring the agent is quite easy without being present at the crime scene and without revealing your identity. Therefore, social media seem to significantly enhance and sustain offender convergence. The article concludes with a discussion about the added value of the research findings on online criminal communication and violent crime.