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Security and the Drop in Car Theft in the United States

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The International Crime Drop

Part of the book series: Crime Prevention and Security Management ((CPSM))

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, all categories of crime have fallen in the United States. Previous research has provided various explanations for this downward trend in crime. These include, for example, increases in incarceration and police staffing, legalization of abortion, and changes in demographic composition, economic conditions, and crack cocaine markets (Levitt, 2004; Blumstein and Wallman, 2006; Zimring, 2007; Blumstein and Rosenfeld, 2008). However, most research on the US crime drop has focused disproportionately on violent crime. Relatively little attention has been paid to car theft, which had the biggest drop between 1991 and 2008 (FBI, 2009).

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© 2012 Shuryo Fujita and Michael Maxfield

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Fujita, S., Maxfield, M. (2012). Security and the Drop in Car Theft in the United States. In: van Dijk, J., Tseloni, A., Farrell, G. (eds) The International Crime Drop. Crime Prevention and Security Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137291462_10

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