JOCKEYS AND JOYRIDERS - CHANGING PATTERNS IN CAR THEFT OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURES

In this paper yearly variations in the rates of recovered stolen vehic les are viewed as measuring changes in levels of joyriding and short-t erm transportation offences. Rates of unrecovered stolen vehicles are shown to reflect instead variations in levels of chopping, retagging, and other fencing activities. We analyse one specific setting (the pro vince of Quebec, Canada) where the amateur demand for stolen vehicles decreased substantially while the professional demand for such theft t argets simultaneously increased.