On the Origins of the Crime Drop: Vehicle Crime and Security in the 1980s

Farrell, Graham; Brown, Rick

doi:10.1111/hojo.12158

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…120–1). In the case of car theft, laws making electronic immobilisers mandatory on new vehicles from 2001 onwards were a significant factor in reducing crime rates (Brown, 2015; Farrell & Brown, 2016).…”

Section: Australian Incarceration and Crime Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia

Leigh

2020

Economic Record

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Constructing a new series of incarceration rates from 1860 to 2018, I find that Australia now incarcerates a greater share of the adult population than at any point since the late nineteenth century. Much of this increase has occurred since the mid‐1980s. Since 1985, the Australian incarceration rate has risen by 130 per cent, and now stands at 0.22 per cent of adults (221 prisoners per 100,000 adults). Recalculating Indigenous incarceration rates so that they are comparable over a long time‐span, I find that incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians have risen dramatically. Fully 2.5 per cent of Indigenous adults are incarcerated (2,481 prisoners per 100,000 adults), a higher share than among African‐Americans. The recent increase in the Australian prison population does not seem to be due to crime rates, which have mostly declined over the past generation. Instead, higher reporting rates, stricter policing practices, tougher sentencing laws, and more stringent bail laws appear to be the main drivers of Australia's growing prison population.

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Section: Australian Incarceration and Crime Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia

Leigh

2020

Economic Record

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“…One of the benefits of examining motor vehicle theft is a repository of knowledge about the causes of trends in that crime type. An international literature offers strong evidence that changes to vehicle security played a prominent role in vehicle theft trends of recent decades in Australia (Kriven and Ziersch 2007), The Netherlands (van Ours and Vollaard 2016), Germany (Bӓssmann 2011), and the United Kingdom (Farrell and Brown 2016), as well as a systematic review of the effectiveness of the electronic immobilizer (Brown 2015). As motor vehicle security evolved it became increasingly 'elegant' , that is, ethical 1960-1964 1965-1969 1970-1974 1975-1979 1980-1984 1985-1989 1990-1994 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009 and unobtrusive, easy to use, and aesthetically neutral or pleasing (Farrell and Tilley 2020).…”

Section: Previous Research Into Vehicle Theft Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-period-cohort effects in half a century of motor vehicle theft in the United States

Dixon

Farrell

2020

Crime Sci

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Adopting and refining O’Brien’s S-constraint approach, we estimate age-period-cohort effects for motor vehicle theft offences in the United States for over half a century from 1960. Taking the well-established late-teen peak offending age as given, we find period effects reducing theft in the 1970 s, and period, but particularly cohort effects, reducing crime from the 1990s onwards. We interpret these effects as consistent with variation in the prevailing level of crime opportunities, particularly the ease with which vehicles could be stolen. We interpret the post-1990s cohort effect as triggered by a period effect that operated differentially by age: improved vehicle security reduced juvenile offending dramatically, to the extent that cohorts experienced reduced offending across the life-course. This suggests the prevailing level of crime opportunities in juvenile years is an important determinant of rates of onset and continuance in offending in birth cohorts. We outline additional implications for research and practice.

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“…The presumption in the academic literature to date is that securitisation has been the servant of automobility. The "crime drop" in vehicle theft since the 1980s, internationally (Tseloni et al 2010) and in the UK (Farrell and Brown 2016), correlates with the proliferation of security devices such as central locking systems and car alarms, supporting a "security hypothesis" (Farrell et al 2011) that cars are becoming safer by virtue of security technologies. The motor industry demonstrates a "commodification" (Goold et al 2010) of security by virtue of market demands and sales practices pandering to perceived insecurities.…”

Section: Securitised Carsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Technologies which protect both car and driver from theft, including central locking systems, have undoubtedly influenced the drop in automobile crime in the last three decades (Farrell and Brown 2016). Their purpose is to deter and prevent third parties from accessing the vehicle.…”

Section: Securitised Carsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It symbolises autonomy, and provides freedom for the individual driver (Rajan 2006), whilst creating structures of dependence and social coercion necessary for mass road transport (Soron 2009). Recently, mobilities scholars have started examining automobility through the lens of security studies, particularly how road systems and cars become secured against potential risks (Leese and Wittendrop 2018;Farrell and Brown 2016;Gayer 2016).…”

Section: Introduction: Securitised Automobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vehicles of control: the securitisation of surveillant automobility in the United Kingdom

Greenwood-Reeves

2020

Secur J

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This paper explores how in the United Kingdom, traffic regulatory systems, cars, and our culture of automobility have been subsumed within a security agenda. Scholars have begun to examine the overlaps between mobilities and security studies, particularly in the context of topics such as migration and terrorism, framing security as a prerequisite to automobility. But little securitymobility research explores how drivers, and the population at large, are themselves securitised through institutions of automobility. The paper details how "surveillant automobility" has manifested in the seemingly mundane traffic systems of the UK, and the deficient transparency and accountability these systems afford. This paper uses government statistics and industry data to support an interdisciplinary theoretical approach, combining mobilities, security, regulatory and Foucauldian approaches.

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On the Origins of the Crime Drop: Vehicle Crime and Security in the 1980s

Cited by 12 publications

References 24 publications

The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia

The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia

Age-period-cohort effects in half a century of motor vehicle theft in the United States

Vehicles of control: the securitisation of surveillant automobility in the United Kingdom

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