Westlake, B. G., Bouchard, M., & Girodat, A. (2017). How obvious is it? The content of child sexual exploitation websites. Deviant Behavior, 38(3), 282-293.
Those who distribute child sexual exploitation (CE) material in the public Internet potentially face greater risks of detection. While public distribution is prevalent, little is known about the structure of these websites. We investigate whether websites take steps to hide their purpose, and, if so, what steps are taken? We analyze 634 websites directly or...
Westlake, B., Bouchard, M., & Frank, R. (2017). Assessing the validity of automated webcrawlers as data collection tools to investigate online child sexual exploitation. Sexual Abuse, 29(7), 685-708.
The distribution of child sexual exploitation (CE) material has been aided by the growth of the Internet. The graphic nature and prevalence of the material has made researching and combating difficult. Although used to study online CE distribution, automated data collection tools (e.g., webcrawlers) have yet to be shown effective at targeting only relevant data....
Ouellet, M., Bouchard, M., & Hart, M. (2017). Criminal collaboration and risk: The drivers of Al Qaeda’s network structure before and after 9/11. Social Networks, 51, 171-177.
A group’s resilience is often linked to its network structure. While decentralized network properties have been associated with resilience at the group-level, little is known about the individual-level factors that lead groups to adopt these structures. Criminal groups, consistently faced with unexpected external disruptions, provide an opportunity to examine individual decisions to collaborate across periods...
Schaefer, D., Bouchard, M., Young, J., & Kreager, D. (2017). Friends in locked places: An investigation of prison inmate network structure, Social Networks, 51, 88-103.
The current study investigates informal social structure among prison inmates. Data come from the Prison Inmate Network Study (PINS), a project focused on a unit of a Pennsylvania medium security men’s prison. We focus on 205 inmates and their “get along with” network – an approximation of friendship in other settings. We find a weak...
Amirault, J., & Bouchard, M. (2017). Timing is everything: The role of contextual and terrorism-specific factors in the sentencing outcomes of terrorist offenders. European journal of criminology, 14(3), 269-289.
The punishment of terrorist offenders remains a relatively unexplored topic. Research is especially needed in the United Kingdom in light of the continued criminalization of terrorism specific offences and the July 2005 bombings. Using a sample of terrorist offenders convicted in the United Kingdom (n = 156), the current study examines the impact of legislative...
Amirault, J., & Bouchard, M. (2017). Timing is everything: The role of contextual and terrorism-specific factors in the sentencing outcomes of terrorist offenders. European Journal of Criminology, 14(3), 269-289.
The punishment of terrorist offenders remains a relatively unexplored topic. Research is especially needed in the United Kingdom in light of the continued criminalization of terrorism-specific offences and the July 2005 bombings. Using a sample of terrorist offenders convicted in the United Kingdom (n = 156), the current study examines the impact of legislative and incident-based...
Malm, A., Bouchard, M., Decorte, T., Vlaemynck, M., & Wouters, M. (2017). More structural holes, more risk? Network structure and risk perception among marijuana growers. Social Networks, 51, 127-134.
This study examines the relationship between network structure and risk perceptions. We use self-report data on 359 illicit marijuana growers and their personal co-worker networks. Our results show that growers with more structural holes in their co-worker network perceive higher risk of apprehension from law enforcement. We argue that this result is facilitated by two...
Bouchard, M., & Hashimi, S. (2017). When is a “war” a “wave?” Two approaches for the detection of waves in gang homicides. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 59(2), 198-226.
Gang violence and gang “wars” are often described as coming in waves, but little empirical work has been conducted to distinguish between actual “waves” of violence and the more common ups and downs that trends in homicides typically go through. We propose two approaches for the detection of waves of gang-related homicides in the Lower...
Ouellet, M., & Bouchard, M. (2016). Terror on Repeat: Criminal Social Capital and Participation in Multiple Attacks. International Criminal Justice Review, 26(4), 316-336.
Criminal and terrorist organizations often depend on repeat offenders to maintain the group’s longevity, especially after repeated law enforcement interventions. Yet, little is known about the offenders who perpetrate multiple incidents on behalf of a group. Relying on data for 118 terrorist offenders involved across eight attacks from 2000 to 2005, this study examines the...
Davies, G., Neudecker, C., Ouellet, M., Bouchard, M., & Ducol, B. (2016). Toward a framework understanding of online programs for countering violent extremism. Journal for Deradicalization, (6), 51-86.
There is an emerging consensus that ideologically-based narratives play a central role in encouraging and sustaining radicalization to violence, and that preventing, arresting, or reversing radicalization requires some means by which to address the effects of these narratives. Countering violent extremism (CVE) is a broad umbrella phrase that covers a wide array of approaches that...
Wong, J. S., Bouchard, J., Gravel, J., Bouchard, M., & Morselli, C. (2016). Can At-Risk Youth Be Diverted From Crime?: A Meta-Analysis of Restorative Diversion Programs. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 43(10), 1310-1329.
Existing reviews of the impact of restorative justice programs on juvenile recidivism have reached mixed conclusions. The present meta-analysis identified relevant studies through a systematic search of 20 databases over a 25-year period as well as the ancestry method. Application of inclusion criteria resulted in a set of 21 studies contributing 21 independent effect sizes....
Hashimi, S., Bouchard, M., Morselli, C., & Ouellet, M. (2016). A method to detect criminal organizations from police data. Methodological Innovations, 9, 1-14.
Definitional problems in the area of organized crime have traditionally led to measurement problems that trickle down the criminal justice system. This study quantifies the broad conception of organized crime in the Canadian legal context and examines the types of crimes in which criminal organizations (and organized criminals) are involved. To estimate incidents potentially related...
Ducol, B., Bouchard, M., Davies, G., Ouellet, M., & Neudecker, C. (2016). Assessment of the state of knowledge: Connections between research on the social psychology of the Internet and violent extremism (16-05). TSAS Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society.
This paper seeks to answer the question: How does social psychology contribute to our understanding of the link between the Internet and violent extremism? Link to full text on Research Gate
Gallupe, O., Nguyen, H., Bouchard, M., Schulenberg, J. L., Chenier, A., & Cook, K. D. (2016). An experimental test of deviant modeling. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(4), 482-505.
Objectives: Test the effect of deviant peer modeling on theft as conditioned by verbal support for theft and number of deviant models. Methods: Two related randomized experiments in which participants were given a chance to steal a gift card (ostensibly worth CAN$15) from the table in front of them. Each experiment had a control group, a verbal...
Amirault, J., Bouchard, M., Farrell, G., & Andresen, M. A. (2016). Criminalizing terrorism in Canada: Investigating the sentencing outcomes of terrorist offenders from 1963 to 2010. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 106(4), 769-809.
Despite having endured significant terrorist incidents over the past 50 years, terrorism-specific offenses were not criminalized in Canada until the implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) in 2001. One of the primary goals of this legislation was to provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to proactively prevent terrorist incidents; however, the effectiveness of these...
Nash, R., Bouchard, M., & Malm, A. (2016). Social Networks as Predictors of the Harm Suffered by Victims of a Large-Scale Ponzi Scheme. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 59(1), 26-62.
Ponzi schemes are a type of social network where investors are recruited by a variety of social actors. This study uses network analysis to investigate whether the type of social tie that influenced victims of the Eron Ponzi scheme to invest is associated with the different harms victims experienced from their involvement in the fraud....
Wong, J. S., Gravel, J., Bouchard, M., Descormiers, K., & Morselli, C. (2016). Promises kept? A meta-analysis of gang membership prevention programs. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 2(2), 134-147.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the effects of gang prevention programs on gang membership. Design: The authors conducted a systematic literature review across 19 bibliographic databases and a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of these strategies. Findings: The database search resulted in 3,850 hits. Of the 162 studies that were screened in...
Morselli, C., Bouchard, M., Zhang, S., Farabee, D., Ouellet, M., & Easton, S. (2016). It came from the north: assessing the claim of Canada’s rising role as a global supplier of synthetic drugs. Crime, Law and Social Change, 66(3), 247-270.
The past decade saw increasing attention turned toward Canada as an active supplier of synthetic drugs to the U.S. and wider international market. Other than occasional drug seizures at border crossings and news stories, no systematic research has been conducted to verify or ascertain such claims. This study assesses the Canadian synthetic drugs market by...
Ouellet, M., Bouchard, M., & Malm, A. (2016). Social opportunity structures and the escalation of drug market offending. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(6), 743-764.
Objectives: This study looks at whether social opportunity structures are associated with transitions into more serious drug market offending. Our focus is on the speed at which transitions occurred, and whether variations in criminal embeddedness play a role in explaining this. Methods: A survey of 520 North American cannabis cultivators allowed us to assess one dimension of...
Westlake, B. G., & Bouchard, M. (2016). Liking and hyperlinking: Community detection in online child sexual exploitation networks. Social Science Research, 59, 23-36.
The online sexual exploitation of children is facilitated by websites that form virtual communities, via hyperlinks, to distribute images, videos, and other material. However, how these communities form, are structured, and evolve over time is unknown. Collected using a custom-designed webcrawler, we begin from known child sexual exploitation (CE) seed websites and follow hyperlinks to...