Motor Vehicle Theft Research Paper

Introduction

Motor vehicle theft has always been a major issue in the United States. In 2013, 697,979 motor thefts were reported in the nation. The FBI stated that every forty-four seconds a car is stolen in the United States (Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association). In 2010, more than 4.5 billion dollars were lost throughout the nation because of motor vehicle theft (U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation). This research paper examines if vehicle theft is more likely to happen in a low-income setting or location. The dependent variables in this study are the motor vehicle theft rates. The independent variables in this study are the criminals who commit motor vehicle theft. Both variables types are scale.

The data set used in this research paper is the crime data set that was provided in class under the crime folder. This is the best data set because it shows vehicle theft from 2004-2013 throughout multiple counties. It is data collected in the same manner as in HINTS. HINTS stands for the Health Information National Trends Survey. It is an institute that collects nationally representative data based on cancer related information that is used by the American public. The HINTS program was created to monitor all changes in health communications because of how fast the field is growing. HINTS is important to social scientists who use the data they provide so they are able to redefine their theories of health communications and can offer new and better recommendations (Health Information National Trends Survey).
Abstract
This research focuses on motor vehicle theft.

Regression is used to test whether or not a low-income setting or a geographical location plays a role to why motor vehicle theft is committed. The dependent variables in this study is motor vehicle theft rates and the independent variables are the criminals who commit motor vehicle theft. The total number of motor vehicle thefts being tested in this study is 7,301. The method for this research is questionnaires given to victims who have had their vehicles stolen to determine what they learned about the offenders’ intents for stealing their vehicles. This study is done over a six-month period. The results showed that settings or geographical locations do not play a role in motor vehicle theft. It depends if the offender is a temporary or permanent offender and what his intentions are when stealing the

vehicle.
Methods
The null hypotheses for this research is that motor vehicle theft is most likely to happen depending on whether or not the setting or location that the crime takes place is low income. Our alternative hypothesis states that the area or setting does not play a role or have an impact to why motor vehicle theft occurs. Since it is known that in 2013 there were 697,979 motor vehicle thefts committed, the focus is on two data sets from the crime data that contains statistics of 2013. The two data sets are for Santa Clara County which was documented to have 7,926 motor vehicle thefts and Vallejo in Solano County which was documented to have 1,209 motor vehicles theft. To find out what the motive was for the vehicle theft, questionnaires are used for a six-month period. Questions asked are: Is the car stolen? Were parts of the car taken? Was only gas taken from the car? These type of questions will assist in understanding the motive to why motor vehicle theft occurs (Inter-University Consortium for Political And Social Research).
Results
The result of this research was that motor vehicle theft occurred regardless of the income status of the setting or area that the crime took place in. The results of the regression test was based on 7,301 vehicle thefts that occurred. According to the results and research, it showed that only 22.33 vehicle thefts that occurred were a result of the area or setting that the crime was committed. What causes offenders to commit motor vehicle thefts depends if they are permanent or temporary offenders. This is because they have goals in mind when they commit the crime. The temporary offenders steal anything that is available and the permanent offenders commit the crime so they gain some sort of financial income. It was learned that many offenders just wait for the perfect opportunity to commit the crime. They look for or happen to come upon an unlocked vehicle, keys that are still in the transmission, or windows that are left down with no one around. So poverty, or living in poor neighborhoods, does not play a major role to why motor vehicle theft is committed.
Discussion
The type of test used for this research was regression. Regression is used to define the relationship of the independent variable, which are the offenders who commit vehicle theft, with the dependent variable, which is why vehicle theft is committed. The expectation for this research is that the income level of the area and setting does not play a role to why motor vehicle theft is committed.
According to the article “Explaining Temporary and Permanent Motor Vehicle Theft Rates in the United States: A Crime-Specific Approach,” offenders tend to choose easy targets that are available near them. It also states that temporary and permanent offenders commit vehicle theft for different reasons. Temporary offenders tend to steal any part of the vehicle that is available or can be easily taken from the car. Permanent offenders tend to steal so they can make a financial gain by stealing an expensive car which they can sell to the black market (Roberts, 2013). According to the article “The Key to Auto Theft” some offenders plan out when they will steal a vehicle, but most often they come upon the situation. For example, it stated that sometimes the offenders see an easy opportunity that is low risk such as the keys being left on the dashboard. The offenders go for low effort, minimal risk, and high reward situations (Copes, 2006). In the article “Establishing Connections: Gender, Motor Vehicles Theft, and Disposal Networks,” it states that offenders scope out situations where there are unattended vehicles. It is much easier for an offender to wait for a victim to leave a running car, jump in and drive off, rather than to pull away an unattended vehicle (Mullins, 2011).
According to the article ‘Locations of Motor Vehicle Theft and Recovery,” offenders study their community to learn when it is the best time for them to steal a vehicle or parts of a vehicle.

This article states that many offenders like to choose places where people park their car and leave it alone for a long period of time. A common place that kept re-occurring in this research was a church parking lot. Offenders like to pick their days and times to act out the crime so they will not get caught (Suresh, 2013). The article “Sociological Models of Automotive Theft: Integrating Routine Activity and Social Disorganization Approaches” applies sociological theory to why motor vehicle theft is committed. A theory they used was the routine theory. They state that there are three elements that lead to the motor vehicle theory. They are accessibility, guardianship, and target suitability. Accessibility means that offenders plan their attacks on areas they know well and have more traffic. They want to get areas with more traffic because they know they have a greater chance of someone leaving the windows open or leaving the keys in the transmission so it is easier to steal the vehicle (Hannon,

2005).
This research should be funded because it can help greatly decrease auto theft and allow people to be aware of what offenders look for when they want to steal a vehicle. For example, society believes that crime occurs usually in urban cities or poorer areas. This research will allow them to realize that offenders study the community and plan out there attacks in busy areas. This will also allow for people to learn that there are two types of offenders that steal for different reasons. It will re-enforce what most of us know. Never leave anything valuable in a car or where it can be spotted. The odds of the vehicle being stolen increases.