Globalisation 'shifts crime trends'

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Crime and theft patterns have changed in the past 20 years as the cost of electrical products were driven down, it has been claimed.

Researchers at Leicester University said globalisation has reduced the cost of household goods, such as TVs and DVDs, making home burglaries less profitable for thieves.

James Treadwell, criminology lecturer at the university, said cheaper electronic goods - from China and the Far East - was forcing thieves to look elsewhere for products, possibly moving towards personal muggings. He said the shift in crimes and type of products stolen in the last decade had been "remarkable".

He added: "If we look back to the 1980s and 1990s, the type of staple crimes would be, for example, very often burglary and car crime and those crimes worked because they followed a business model and it was possible to break into a house and steal a video recorder and sell that at a profit.

"Gradually, the prices of such goods has fallen so low as to they almost have no resale value."

Mr Treadwell is due to present his findings at the British Society of Criminology conference at the University of Leicester in July.

Copyright © Press Association 2010

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