Social capital and co-offending

Criminal contexts show familiar processes of social capital inequality through inclusion, exclusion, and resource hoarding. However, criminal contexts also exacerbate social capital and inequality outcomes because of the high risk of arrest and absence of legal regulation. Co-offending is a cooperative process requiring social networks of potential co-offenders who pool their differing levels of criminal knowledge, skill, and information to improve their success in crime. Co-offending can also be an exploitative process requiring desperation, risk, and disposable ties. Potential co-offenders select those most similar to themselves or those most willing to align with their needs. These dyadic-level co-offending selections and decisions result in the homophilous composition of larger criminal groups and organizations. This chapter links broad patterns in crime and criminal partnerships to their social capital mechanisms and discusses their implications for the overrepresentation and underrepresentation of groups in crime.