Car crime and offending behaviour: Ex-offender perspectives

Patel, T ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2578-3393 2012, 'Car crime and offending behaviour: Ex-offender perspectives' , Prison Services Journal (201) , pp. 44-49.

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Abstract

This paper reports on some of the findings of a study undertaken within a vulnerable residential area of an inner-city in the north-west of England. As a location, it has been marked as vulnerable due to its abnormally high crime rate. As such, it continues to attract police and local authority concern, who commissioned research to examine the motivations, opportunities of, and technical knowledge for undertaking one of its common crimes in the locale, that is theft from or of a motor vehicle (TMV). In using qualitative research methods with a sample of ex-offenders, victims of theft, and, users of the stolen goods market, several key factors were identified as relevant in the undertaking and consequences of TMV. Here, the role of the built environment in terms of urban disorganisation, the lack of community cohesion between the varying residential groups, problematic police-community relationships and attitudes, and the marked income inequalities within such a residential population, were all highlighted as significant. These factors intertwined with one another to create a space where the occurrence of a particular type of crime was viewed as necessary and for some, an acceptable response to their State allocated position of neglect and marginalisation. In reporting on the findings of some of this data, this paper discusses the reasons presented by exoffenders (n=18) for their taking part in the offence of TMV, and their assessments of offender punishment and rehabilitation support services. To do so, the paper uses direct narratives from exoffenders to offer a criminological commentary on why TMV occurs and the assessment that those who undertake this crime, make of support services, and the impact that this is likely to have on re-offending rates.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Built and Human Environment Health and Wellbeing Memory, Text and Place
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy
Journal or Publication Title:	Prison Services Journal
Publisher:	HM Prison Service
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	0300-3558
Depositing User:	Dr Tina G. Patel
Date Deposited:	27 Apr 2012 10:29
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 14:17
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/22585

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