OTHER TARGETS OR OTHER LOCATIONS? An Analysts of Opportunity Structures

Structural or demographic arrangements in one specific culture form the mentality of their inhabitants, their way of life and, presumably, their crime patterns. This article maintains that residential burglary is complicated and relatively unattractive in a Spanish city. It then analyses two possible forms of alternatives to burglary: a shift towards other targets; street robbery instead of burglary, and towards other locations; breaking into holiday homes in the tourist settlements along the coast. We find empirical support for the first kind of crime shift, but not so for the second one. The tourist area is, in fact, very much subject to burglary, but the burglars do not come from the nearby city. Implications of these findings for criminological theory and for crime prevention policy are discussed. As suggested by Reppetto (1976), measures which make it more difficult or risky to commit a crime can lead to several forms of crime displacement: Offence: Crime displacement towards other types of crime Target: Towards a less protected target in the same vicinity Method: Better locks force burglars to become innovative Place: Towards targets in other areas Time: Other hours of the day A combination of these types of displacement, as suggested by Hesseling (1994) is also a possible outcome of preventive measures. Most research on crime opportunity, crime patterns, situational factors, life style and routine activities, does not confront directly the tricky question of whether preventive measures just put your neighbour at greater risk, and instead is limited to an explanation of why some targets are selected more often than others. Litde attention also is paid to long-term effects of existing opportunity structures upon crime patterns. The focus of this article is on how structural arrangements produce a specific crime pattern, and how it displaces crime towards other targets.