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Theories of Co-offending

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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Overview

This entry is focused on theories and theorizing about co-offending. This includes explaining why people co-offend in the first place, how co-offenders find each other and initiate their crimes, and how co-offending may have consequences for offenders and offending rates. The entry starts by outlining three general approaches in the field. After that, a small number of “Theories of co-offending” are addressed in more detail—elaborated theoretical publications about understanding the causes of co-offending or certain aspects of it. Finally, a number of other theoretical issues are addressed, which have received quite some attention in the field. Following each of these issues, a short outline is provided for the remaining questions that are still in need of further theoretical elaboration.

Introduction

One of the basic findings of criminology is that a substantial part of crime is committed in the company of others—“co-offending.” Early twentieth-century scholars already...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NCSR), 71304, 1008 BH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Frank M. Weerman

Authors
  1. Frank M. Weerman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank M. Weerman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Weerman, F.M. (2014). Theories of Co-offending. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_110

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_110

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

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