Motor Vehicle Theft in Middle America, 1990-2001

There are more than one million motor vehicles §stolen in the United States each year worth an §estimated eight billion dollars. National motor §vehicle theft rates decreased during the §1990s but have been climbing in the new §millennium. This study examines rising motor vehicle §theft and the effects of ecological change over a §decade (1990-2001) in a medium size Midwestern §city. The study employs both a series of two-wave §cross-sectional analyses and a series of §longitudinal lagged ecological effects analyses to §study the impacts of community structure on motor §vehicle theft. The study addresses three specific §shortcomings in the exitant literature: 1)reliance §on relatively large units of analysis; 2)prevalence §of single-wave cross-sectional designs; 3)and use of §macro level data to explain micro level community §processes derived from a limited number of §theoretical perspectives. The research utilizes two §unique sources of data: police department records of §motor vehicle thefts, and the 1990 and 2000 §decennial censuses. Regression analyses are used to §identify predictors of motor vehicle theft.