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28 How. J. Crim. Just. 1 (1989)

handle is hein.journals/hjcj28 and id is 1 raw text is: The Howard journal Vol 28 No 1. Feb 89 ISSN 0265-5527 Motorcycle Theft, Helmet Legislation and Displacement PAT MAYHEW, RONALD V. CLARKE and DAVID ELLIOTT Pat Mayhew and David Elliott are, respectively, Principal Research Officer and Higher Scientific Officer, Home Office Research and Planning Unit Ronald Clarke is Dean of the School of Criminal justice at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Abstract: Most current theory, which treats crime as an expression of psychological or social malaise, would hold that displacement of offending undermines the value of measures to reduce opportunities for crime. However, a drop of more than 60% in motorcycle thefts in the Federal Republic of Germany, brought about by the introduction in 1980 offinesforfailing to wear a crash helmet, was not followed by increases in thefts of cars or bicycles. This may have been because bike or car thefts do not offer a similar combination of costs and benefits for the offender as opportunistic thefts of motorcycles. More generally, it appears that a 'rational choice' perspective on crime is likely to result in more fruitful analysis of displacement. Advocates of 'situational prevention' (Clarke 1983; Heal and Laycock 1986) encounter particular difficulties in dealing with the criticism that the effectiveness of opportunity-reducing measures is undermined by displacing offenders' activities to other times, places, targets, or types of crime (Reppetto 1976; Gabor 1981; Trasler 1986). Indeed, displacement has often been shown: for instance by the rise in thefts of older unprotected vehicles following the introduction of steering column locks for new vehicles in the United Kingdom in 1971 (Mayhew et al. 1976), and by an increase in street robberies after successful action against muggings in the New York subway system (Chaiken, Lawless and Stevenson 1974). These studies, together with a larger number of less conclusive pieces of research, have made it easy for critics to argue that displacement is the inevitable result of opportunity-reducing measures. This is difficult to disprove as the offences targetted by situational measures frequently comprise only a small proportion of the total volume of crime, and, to date, evidence which suggests that displacement is not inevitable is provided by only a few studies: on the introduction of slug-proof parking meters in New York (Decker 1972); of action against prostitution in North London (Matthews 1986); and of detoxification of the British domestic gas supply which led to a substantial decline in suicide (Kreitman 1976; Clarke and Mayhew 1988). A further difficulty for supporters of situational prevention is that most 1

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