Opportunity and Vehicle Crime (From Policy and Theory in Criminal Justice, P 28-50, 1990, Don M Gottfredson and Ronald V Clarke, eds. -- See NCJ-130506)

• NCJ Number: 130509
• Author(s): P Mayhew
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Avebury Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Data regarding vehicle and vehicle crime form the basis of an analysis of the adequacy of the hypothesis that the level of offending geographically and over time varies according to the number of criminal opportunities available.

Abstract

The analysis used data from the 1989 International Telephone Survey which gathered information about victimization from about 2,000 randomly selected people ages 16 and over in 14 countries. Findings partly supported Wilkins's contention that vehicle theft is a function of the number of registered vehicles, in that vehicle offenses were generally highest where ownership levels were highest. The data on bicycle thefts supported this view as well. However, other factors must also be considered including the numbers of people prepared to commit a crime and the accessibility of the vehicles. Thus, the studies of the effect of better ignition security in West Germany and England showed that simple availability of targets is less important than how viable these targets are. Tables, notes, and 32 references