Is metal theft committed by organized crime groups, and why does it matter?

Ashby, M.P.J. ORCID: 0000-0003-4201-9239, 2015. Is metal theft committed by organized crime groups, and why does it matter? Criminology & Criminal Justice. ISSN 1748-8958

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Abstract

Using the example of metal theft in the United Kingdom, this study used mixed methods to evaluate the accuracy of police estimates of the involvement of organised crime groups (OCGs) in crime. Police estimate that 20-30% of metal theft is committed by OCGs, but this study found that only 0.5% of metal thieves had previous convictions for offences related to OCGs, that only 1.3% were linked to OCGs by intelligence information, that metal thieves typically offended close to their homes and that almost no metal thefts involved sophisticated offence methods. It appears that police may over-estimate the involvement of OCGs in some types of crime. The reasons for and consequences of this over-estimation are discussed.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Criminology & Criminal Justice
Creators: Ashby, M.P.J.
Publisher: SAGE in association with the British Society of Criminology
Place of Publication: London
Date: 2015
ISSN: 1748-8958
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1177/1748895815603777DOI
Divisions: Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by: EPrints Services
Date Added: 09 Oct 2015 11:08
Last Modified: 09 Jun 2017 13:50
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/23398

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