Reducing Theft from Basements and Attics – A Crime Science Approach

Abstract

Despite a growing interest in place-based crime prevention, certain locations within the built environment remain overlooked in criminological research and policy. This study examines the effect of place-based crime prevention interventions targeting thefts from basements and attics in public housing “vulnerable” areas in Gothenburg, Sweden. Drawing on principles from situational crime prevention and crime science, we evaluate whether physical security improvements reduced incidents of thefts as a part of a broader social investment program targeting “particularly vulnerable areas”. Using a fixed-effects Difference-in-Differences approach, we analyze address-level crime data between 2019 and 2023 while accounting for time trends and spatial heterogeneity while acknowledging a staggered treatment rate across the studied units.

Our findings suggest that these interventions, and particularly those related to door enhancements, were associated with reductions in reported thefts, compared to control addresses. However, variation in effect size across intervention types underscores the importance of understanding the mechanisms further. This study contributes to the growing body of research on micro-place crime prevention by focusing on neglected within-building spaces and offers implications for both urban safety policy and public housing management.