Practical Skills
Displacement Theory
Displacement theory argues that removing opportunity for crime or seeking to prevent a crime by changing the situation in which it occurs (see Situational Crime Prevention) does not actually prevent crime but merely moves it around.
There are five main ways in which this theory suggests crime is moved around:
crime can be moved from one location to another (geographical displacement)
crime can be moved from one time to another (temporal displacement)
crime can be directed away from one target to another (target displacement)
one method of committing crime can be substituted for another (tactical displacement)
one kind of crime can be substituted for another (crime type displacement).
(Felson and Clarke, 1998)
Although this suggests that displacement is always negative, there can be some positive effects and another way of looking at displacement is perhaps in terms of the effects of any displacement:
Positive – a crime is displaced to a less serious type of crime or a crime with greater risk, with lower rewards or causing less serious damage. It represents a success since it produces a net gain.
Neutral – a crime is displaced to one of the same seriousness, of the same risk, rewards and damage.
Even-handed – prevention is concentrated on those who are repeatedly victimised in order to achieve a more equitable distribution of crime.
Negative – a crime is displaced to a more serious crime, a crime with greater reward or greater social cost.
Attractive – activities and/or places attract crime from other areas or activities (eg ‘red light’ districts attract customers from other areas, as well as other criminal activities).
(Home Office, 1993)
There is a great deal of discussion about the nature and extent of crime displacement and whilst there are examples of apparent displacement, there are many studies which report that displacement did not occur at all, or only to a limited extent. A paper on the perceptions and reality of displacement has been prepared by a practitioner seeking to dispel some of the myths that surround the topic – view the paper Crime displacement: the perceptions, problems, evidence and supporting theory.
Displacement is always a threat to crime prevention and needs to be considered in crime reduction work, but there are strong theoretical reasons for believing it is far from inevitable. Even when it can be shown to occur, it may be far from complete displacement, giving important net reductions in crime.
References
Felson, M and Clarke RV (1998). Opportunity Makes the
Thief: practical theory for crime prevention Police Research
Series Paper 98. London: Home Office
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/fprs98.pdf
PDF (416 Kb)
Home Office (1993). A practical guide to crime prevention for local partnerships. London: Home Office.
Last update: 09/09/02