Reducing student burglary victimisation using the Nudge approach
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Reducing student burglary victimisation using the Nudge approach Jason Roach1 · Ashley Cartwright1 · Kevin Weir2 · Steve Richards2 · Matilda Weir3
© Springer Nature Limited 2020
Abstract This paper presents a study employing nudge psychology to reduce burglary of properties in the twelve most victimised streets in the UK City of Durham. A bespoke survey was developed first, to raise residents’ awareness of the high burglary rate, and second, to nudge them into reflecting on their burglary prevention behaviour. The findings showed that a majority of residents were not previously aware that they were residing on one of 12 most burgled streets in the City of Durham and that they stated that they would adopt more security conscious burglary prevention behaviours as a consequence of taking part in the survey. Fewer burglaries were recorded in the 12 streets for the period during and soon after administration of the survey, compared with police recorded burglaries for the same 12 streets for the same period of months in the 2 years previously. Although the limitations of the present paper are readily acknowledged, as police reported no other burglary-related interventions (including targeted ‘burglar operations’) in the period in question, it is tentatively suggested that the administration of the survey had indeed produced a positive ‘nudge effect’ on residents’ burglary prevention behaviours. The paper concludes with some suggestions for how police might use the data gathered from this approach to develop future burglary prevention initiatives. Keywords Burglary · Crime prevention · Nudge psychology · Student houses · Victimisation
* Jason Roach [email protected] 1
Applied Criminology and Policing Centre, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK
2
Durham Constabulary, Durham, UK
3
Durham Constabulary Cadet, Durham, UK
Vol.:(0123456789)
J. Roach et al.
Introduction Burglary as a category of crime is considered by most people in the UK to represent the beginning of ‘serious crime’ (Roach and Pease 2013; Pease 1998). According to the UK Office for National Statistics, Police recorded domestic and non-domestic burglary in England and Wales fell year-on-year, from 890,099 offences in the year ending March 2003 (the earliest time period for which data are directly comparable) to 401,101 in the year ending March 2016 (ONS website 2019).1 According to the most recent figures, however, burglary in England and Wales increased slightly in the year ending March 2017 (411,536 offences), but nevertheless the general trend, in terms of volume, has seen burglary in England and Wales fall by more than half in the past decade (ONS website 2019). Despite a fall in the volume of burglaries in England and Wales over the past ten years, the risk of burglary still appears to be highly disproportionate, with a significant number of people experiencing more burglaries than others, with some being ‘repeatedly victimised’ (Pease 1998). One group identified as being at a heightened risk of burglary in the UK are university s
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