@article{ref1,
title="Gang crackdowns and offender centrality in a countywide co-offending network: a networked evaluation of Operation Triple Beam",
journal="Journal of criminal justice",
year="2021",
author="Smith, Thomas Bryan",
volume="73",
number="",
pages="e101755-e101755",
abstract="PURPOSE In 2018, the US Marshals Service (USMS) and local law enforcement implemented &quot;Operation Triple Beam&quot; (OTB) in and around Houston, TX. While OTB has been touted as an exemplary initiative, its impact on offending and co-offending remains a mystery. Using over a decade of web-scraped arrest data from 16 law enforcement agencies I evaluate the impact of OTB on co-offending network involvement in Galveston County, TX.  Methods Difference-in-difference regression analysis is employed to assess change in centrality from the co-offending network preceding OTB to the network following OTB, relative to change over similarly structured networks in a randomly sampled control group drawn from the 7 years preceding OTB.  Results Arrest during OTB, to a greater extent than arrest during counterfactual periods, is associated with reductions in co-offending network involvement. The greatest reductions are observed in harmonic closeness and betweenness centrality. Further, OTB arrestees appear to have held co-offending network positions of greater prestige (eigenvector) when compared with the control group.  Conclusions Consistent with its goals, OTB appears to have targeted prominent offenders within the regional co-offending network. OTB appears to have been especially effective at damaging the involvement of the networks' brokers.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0047-2352",
doi="10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101755",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101755"
}