Citation

Trivizas E, Smith PT. Br. J. Criminol. 1997; 37(1): 63-74.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The study reported here considers the deterrent effect of terrorist incidents on the rates of luggage theft in railway and underground stations. We selected for our task a well-publicized major terrorist incident that took place on 18 February 1991. The analysis of the data shows that in the periods immediately following the terrorist incident there was a sharp but short-lasting decline in the number of cases of luggage theft. This indicates that either increased police vigilance, or the fear of potential thieves that items of luggage might contain explosives, produces a definite if short-lived deterrent effect.