ABSTRACT

Consistent with the crime drop experienced in many ‘Western’ market-based countries since the early 1990s, burglary and other theft offences in Western Australia have declined dramatically over the past two decades. To date, the most parsimonious explanation for these sustained international declines has focused on the changing nature of risk and effort involved with acquisitive crime resulting from increased security. This article presents data that supports the argument for a parallel and compatible factor that has reduced these crimes: the reduction in reward from property crime. It is argued that variations in availability and disposability of hot products can account for longitudinal variations in stealing counts of specific goods. To test this hypothesis, a series of correlational and cross-sectional regression analyses are conducted on the declining availability of cash and changing desirability of specific makes and models of gaming consoles with their corresponding stealing counts between 2007 and 2019 in Western Australia. The findings demonstrate significant product-specific associations between the availability (cash) and disposability (consoles) with their corresponding stealing counts. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed.

摘要

与自 1990 年代初以来许多以“西方”市场为基础的国家所经历的犯罪率下降一致，西澳大利亚州的入室盗窃和其他盗窃犯罪在过去二十年中急剧下降。迄今为止，对这些持续的国际下降的最简洁的解释集中在安全性提高导致的获得性犯罪所涉及的风险和努力的性质不断变化上。本文提供的数据支持减少这些犯罪的平行和兼容因素的论点：财产犯罪的奖励减少。有人认为，热产品的可用性和可处置性的变化可以解释特定商品盗窃数量的纵向变化。为了检验这个假设，对 2007 年至 2019 年西澳大利亚州的现金可用性下降以及特定品牌和型号游戏机的需求变化及其相应的偷窃次数进行了一系列相关和横截面回归分析。调查结果表明，可用性（现金）和可处置性（控制台）与其相应的盗窃数量之间存在显着的特定于产品的关联。讨论了这些发现的理论和应用意义。调查结果表明，可用性（现金）和可处置性（控制台）与其相应的盗窃数量之间存在显着的特定于产品的关联。讨论了这些发现的理论和应用意义。调查结果表明，可用性（现金）和可处置性（控制台）与其相应的盗窃数量之间存在显着的特定于产品的关联。讨论了这些发现的理论和应用意义。