International
e-crime Solutions and Crime Displacement
The Australian Institute of Criminology has published a paper which seeks to identify possible risks of crime displacement arising from attempts to prevent electronic crime.
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti243.pdf 156 Kb
Title: e-crime Solutions and Crime Displacement
Authors: Russell G Smith, Nicolas Wolanin and Glenn Worthington
Series: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No 243
Number of pages: 6 pages
Date published: January 2003
Displacement research has so far focused on "traditional" crimes such as burglary, vehicle crime and vandalism. It has tended to show that displacement rarely takes place and when it does, it usually does not overwhelm other gains achieved by crime prevention measures.
This paper seeks to apply theories of displacement in the context of electronic crime as it is different in many respects to traditional crimes. The concern is that displacement might be more of a problem for e-crime than for other types of crime. It looks at the possible counterproductive effects which electronic crime reduction techniques might have and makes comments on the policy implications and the likely displacement possibilities.
The authors consider each of the six theories of displacement following situational crime prevention measures or the creation of new opportunities for crime to be committed:
Displacement of crime to:
Other locations (spatial)
Other times or occasions (temporal)
Softer targets (target)
Different modus operandi (tactical)
Other types of crime (offence)
Other perpetrators (offender)
One of the major risks identified is that as large corporations and public sector agencies continue to improve their electronic security, offenders may target smaller organisations or individuals with less security in place. Offenders may also seek to bribe staff or plant their own agents within organisations to avoid the need to overcome security and encryption from external methods.
The paper acknowledges that displacement of electronic crime may be difficult to detect, pointing out that it may be as limited as that for traditional crimes if efforts are made to guard against the possibilities. Being aware of the displacement risks will help to ensure that well-intentioned efforts to reduce crime do not make matters worse.
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Thanks to the European Crime Prevention Network (EU CPN) for highlighting this publication.
Last update: Monday, November 27, 2006