[The Research Room] From Talk to Trial: Encrypted Communication and the Construction of Criminal Identity in Homicide Cases

In an otherwise stable European context, Sweden experienced an unprecedented escalation in gang-related shootings and explosions over nearly a decade. These homicides are calculated acts, linked to the organisational structure of criminal networks, shaped by internal rules, and embedded in ongoing interaction. Drawing on preliminary investigation reports, this article examines encrypted communication through which these organisational logics are enacted, negotiated, and ultimately translated into legal evidence. The findings offer new criminological insights into (a) gang homicides as interactional sequences through which violence is coordinated, and (b) the construction of criminal identity through the legal translation of encrypted communication into evidence.