U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Assessing the Extent of Crime Displacement and Diffusion of Benefits: A Review of Situational Crime Prevention Evaluations

NCJ Number
229220
Journal
Criminology Volume: 47 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 1331-1368
Author(s)
Rob T. Guerette; Kate J. Bowers
Date Published
November 2009
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This study investigates the issue of crime displacement through a systematic review of more than 100 evaluations of situationally focused crime prevention projects in an effort to determine the extent to which displacement was observed.
Abstract
The findings from the study provide continued support for the view that crime does not simply relocate in the aftermath of situational interventions. Instead, crime displacement seems to be the exception rather than the rule, and it is sometimes more likely that diffusion of crime-control benefit will occur. The findings also implicate that when displacement does occur, on average, it tends to be less than the gains achieved by the situational intervention. The question is in the aftermath of situational crime-prevention (SCP) efforts, does crime really just go someplace else? The prevailing sentiment, despite emerging evidence to the contrary, is that crime displacement is inevitable. This study assessed the extent to which displacement and diffusion of benefits were observed among 102 evaluations of SCP initiatives. Tables, figures, references, and appendixes A-C