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The British Journal of Criminology 42:709-728 (2002)
© 2002 Centre for Crime & Justice Studies (formerly ISTD)
Empirical Analysis of Motor Vehicle Theft in Israel, 199097
*Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Haifa, Israel; sherzog{at}soc.haifa.ac.il
Trends in motor vehicle theft in Israel over the past decade are distinctly different from those found in other Western countries. This study used formal crime data to gain understanding of the offence and the offenders involved in it. The data were analysed by logistic regression models, the final condition of the stolen motor vehicle serving as the dependent variable classifying the theft and the offender. The findings showed an increase in the frequency of the offence due, among other things, to increasing professionalism. Such findings are compatible with reports of the media, police and a public committee claiming that motor vehicle theft forms part of a highly developed organized industry in which the stolen cars are transferred to the newly established Palestinian Authority for dismantling into car parts and resale in Israel.