NCJ Number
203449
Journal
Security Journal Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 29-44
Date Published
2003
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the background and characteristics of fences.
Abstract
Fences, or those that deal in stolen goods, have been noted in literature and legal documents since as early as 1770. The rise of large-scale fencing enterprises roughly parallels the industrialization of society. Fences can be individuals or organizations, can run a full-time or part-time/occasional/situational operation, and they can explicitly buy and sell stolen goods or may prefer not to ask the origin of items, while knowing some or all of them may be illicit. The vast majority of known fences are White middle-aged men. The overwhelmingly majority of fences own and/or operate legitimate businesses. Commercial fences operate out of shops or store fronts, while residential fences operate from their homes. All fences, as both buyers and sellers of stolen merchandise, must face two distinct markets: the theft offenders that supply them with goods, and the public purchasers that buy their wares. The supply sources for fences are thieves that are very often drug addicts, as well as other subsets of thieves, such as truck drivers and warehouse workers. Property crime is best understood as a market for goods and services rather than a series of discrete individual events. Research to date has only hinted at the extent of the market for stolen goods. What little research there is shows that there is a widespread and extensive market for stolen goods in both the United States and abroad. Theft of property accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the United States and over a thousand million pounds a year in Britain. Burglars and thieves have a multitude of different disposal routes for these stolen goods that are rapid, efficient, relatively low-risk, and profitable. The illicit market is perpetually fueled by otherwise law-abiding citizens that regularly buy stolen merchandise. There is very little public outcry about the marketing of stolen goods. The illicit market is based on supply and demand. 2 figures, 161 notes