Using archival data and multidimensional scaling to explore leadership: Examples from group crime

Abstract

Juvenile group behaviour is increasingly linked to criminal activity, both through statistics and the media. The present paper discusses the methods used by Porter and Alison for researching hierarchies, particularly leadership behaviour, in juvenile criminal groups. The paper discusses available data sources, advocating the use of archival sources such as law reports and media accounts for exploring criminal leadership. Further, the paper talks the reader through the method of partially ordered scalogram analysis (POSA), a multidimensional scaling technique suited to exploring the concepts of interest here. The work discussed takes the perspective that such behaviour is not ‘abnormal’ or pathological but rooted in normal processes of peer group dynamics. The methods draw upon social and organisational psychology to produce a model of leadership that would be applicable to both criminal and non-criminal contexts.