By David Weisburd, Laura A. Wyckoff, Justin Ready, John E. Eck, Joshua C. Hinkle, Frank Gajewski

This study addresses the longstanding concern that focused crime prevention efforts—such as policing "hot spots"—might simply displace crime to nearby areas. While displacement has been a major critique of place-based policing, empirical studies have rarely been designed specifically to assess its presence or measure its impact. The authors designed and implemented a controlled field experiment in Jersey City, New Jersey, to examine whether such displacement occurs or whether crime control efforts might instead lead to a diffusion of benefits—i.e., crime reductions in areas surrounding targeted sites. The study focused on two areas: one known for street-level drug dealing and the other for prostitution. Using over 6,000 social observations, interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork, the researchers found little evidence of spatial displacement and instead documented significant diffusion of crime control benefits to adjacent areas. The findings challenge assumptions that crime merely moves elsewhere and reinforce the effectiveness of concentrated policing in reducing crime beyond targeted hot spots.

(Criminology, Volume 44, Number 3, 2006, pp. 549–594)

By Michael Townsley · Benjamin Hutchins

This article aims to provide insights regarding crime problems affecting the Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) retail sector, focusing primarily on the size and range of criminal behaviours. The research incorporated an online survey of retailers and police statistics. The study finds that the cost of retail crime increased by 28% over the last 4 years, against 25% growth in revenue. It also reveals that shoplifting remains the most significant and costly economic problem facing retailers, followed by employee theft. Additionally, fraud, notably in online channels, will remain a concern for the foreseeable future. We examine potential explanations and interpretations for retail crime through an environmental criminological lens. Increased research and involvement of researchers hold tremendous potential for reducing retail crime and preventing its growth in the future

Crime Prevention and Community Safety 26(2):1-23, 2024

Edited by A.M. Lemieux.

The Poaching Diaries is an edited collection of contributions on wildlife crime prevention and wilderness problems. It is an outlet for practitioners, policy makers, and academics to tell stories that facilitate problem-solving.

The aim of The Poaching Diaries is to present ideas that help governments and civil society diversify their approach to wildlife protection to achieve lasting impacts. The focus of this volume is crime scripting, a useful process for unpacking problems and designing clever solutions. Crime scripts are generated by developing detailed, step-by-step accounts of very specific crimes, in the specific contexts and environments where they take place. These scripts capture the full process of committing a crime, including steps taken before and after the criminal act itself. This is useful for identifying weak points in the chain of events to focus prevention strategies. For example, a subway pickpocketing event is part of a larger process, in which the offender has many decisions to make and actions to complete; one of these actions could be loitering on platforms to find victims. Looking at this stage in the crime script, a disruption strategy might focus on limiting access to subway stations for individuals without a valid ticket. This would make it harder, or at least more expensive, for pickpockets to work and therefore a less attractive environment for crime.

Phoenix, AZ: Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, Arizona State University, 2020. 126[p.