A new survey conducted by Nextbase in the UK shows that about a third of the citizenry believes car theft has been effectively decriminalized in the country. While that fact seems to shock some, when you really stop and think about what’s been going on, the viewpoint actually makes a lot of sense and causes us to wonder what’s wrong with the other two thirds of Brits.
Defender owners are turning to a decidedly low-tech security measure in London.
After all, car thefts in the UK have nearly doubled in the last ten years. At the same time, the conviction rate for committing such a crime remains “incredibly low” says Auto Express in its report on the survey’s results.
That’s true, just like how few are convicted for car theft in areas like Los Angeles County. Blame it on activist prosecutors or laws written to discourage convictions for the sake of “justice,” the result is people feeling rather cynical about the legal status of car theft in places like the UK.
According to Nextbase, about 130,000 cars were stolen from March 2023 to March 2024. For all of 2014 that figure was 70,000. But the firm says a mere two percent of those recent car theft cases resulted in criminal charges.
Can you really blame a third of people in the UK for saying car theft is in effect decriminalized when just two percent of thieves are charged? We think they’re seeing things as they actually are, so what’s wrong with the rest of the country?
All that theft is apparently helping to cool car sales. Out of those surveyed, Nextbase says 17 percent stated they are delaying buying a new vehicle out of fear it will be stolen. That combined with two thirds of respondents saying they think car thieves have become more advanced in their methods of stealing rides and it’s no wonder people are spooked.
We wonder what a survey like this in the US would find?
Image via Kindel Media/Pexels
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