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Motor Vehicle Theft

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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Synonyms

Auto theft; Car theft; Stolen auto; Stolen vehicle

Overview

According to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), motor vehicle theft has been on a decline in the United States during the last decade. Since 2001, the number of motor vehicle theft victimizations has decreased from just over one million to 606,990 per year. This is nearly a 40 % change in the last 10 years, with an average annual decrease of about 3.5 % (Truman 2011). The Uniform Crime Report (US Department of Justice 2011a) indicates a similar decline, with the motor vehicle theft rate decreasing from 430.5 per 100,000 people in 2001 to 258.8 per 100,000 people in 2009. Europe joins the United States in a reprieve from the inconvenience associated with higher rates of motor vehicle theft. Europe has also seen a 5.7 % decrease in motor vehicle theft between 2000 and 2007 (European Commission 2010).

Although these rates are representative of both regions as a whole, certain areas of the United States are...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, NJ, 08205, USA

    Marissa P. Levy

Authors
  1. Marissa P. Levy
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Correspondence to Marissa P. Levy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Levy, M.P. (2014). Motor Vehicle Theft. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

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