Hijacking Hotspot, R511 in Gauteng (South Africa)

Carjacking is a robbery in which the item taken over is a motor vehicle.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to

car theft Motor vehicle theft (also known as a car theft and, in the United States, grand theft auto) is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle. Nationwide in the United States in 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reported ...

, carjacking is usually in the presence and knowledge of the victim. A common crime in many places in the world, carjacking has been the subject of legislative responses, criminology studies, and prevention efforts.

Commercial vehicle A commercial vehicle is any type of motor vehicle used for transporting goods or paying passengers. The United States defines a "commercial motor vehicle" as any self-propelled or towed vehicle used on a public highway in interstate commerce to t ...

s such as trucks and armored cars containing valuable cargo are common targets of carjacking attempts. Carjacking usually involves physical violence to the victim, or using the victim as a hostage. In rare cases, carjacking may also involve sexual assault.

Etymology

The word is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordscar'' and ''hijacking''. The term was coined by reporter Scott Bowles and editor EJ Mitchell with ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

'' in 1991. ''The News'' first used the term in a report on the murder of Ruth Wahl, a 22-year-old Detroit drugstore cashier who was killed when she would not surrender her Suzuki Sidekick, and in an investigative report examining the rash of what Detroit Police call "robbery armed unlawful driving away an automobile" (in dispatch slang shortened to R.A.-YOU-Da) plaguing Detroit.

Studies

A study published in the '' British Journal of Criminology'' in 2003 found that "for all of the media attention it has received in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, carjacking remains an under-researched and poorly understood crime."Bruce A. Jacobs, Volkan Topalli & Richard Wright, "Carjacking, Streetlife and Offender Motivation" in ''The British Journal of Criminology'', Vol. 43, Issue 4 (October 2003), pp. 673–688. The study authors conducted

semi-structured interview A semi-structured interview is a method of research used most often in the social sciences. While a structured interview has a rigorous set of questions which does not allow one to divert, a semi-structured interview is open, allowing new ideas to ...

s with 28 active carjackers in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, and based on these interviews concluded that "the decision to commit a carjacking stems most directly from a situated interaction between particular sorts of perceived opportunities and particular sorts of perceived needs and desires, this decision is activated, mediated, and shaped by participation in urban street culture." A study published in the ''

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography The ''Journal of Contemporary Ethnography'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers research in ethnography. The journal's editors-in-chief are Charles Edgley and Jeffrey E. Nash (University of Arkansas, Little Rock). It was established in ...

'' in 2013 noted that "carjacking requires offenders to neutralize victims who are inherently mobile and who can use their vehicles as both weapons and shields." The study noted that carjackers use fear to compel compliance from victims.Bruce Jacobs, "The Manipulation of Fear in Carjacking" in ''Journal of Contemporary Ethnography'', Vol. 42, Issue 5 (February 2013), pp. 523-544. A 2008 paper by the

Australian Institute of Criminology The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) is Australia's national research and knowledge centre on crime and criminal justice. The Institute seeks to promote justice and reduce crime by undertaking and communicating evidence-based research ...

conceptualized carjackings as falling into four types based on method and motive: organized and instrumental, organized and acquisitive, opportunistic and instrumental, and opportunistic and acquisitive. An example of an ''organized and instrumental'' carjacking is a planned carjacking with a weapon to use the vehicle for ramming an ATM to steal cash. An example of an ''organized and acquisitive'' carjacking is a planned carjacking to sell the vehicle in a known market. An example of an ''opportunistic and instrumental'' carjacking is a carjacking without a weapon to sell "vehicle/parts with no market in mind." An example of an ''opportunistic and acquisitive'' carjacking is a carjacking without a weapon to joyride.Lisa Jane Young and Maria Borzycki
Carjacking in Australia: recording issues and future directions
''Trends & Issues in Crime & Criminal Justice'', No. 351,

, February 2008. A 2017 qualitative study published in ''

Justice Quarterly ''Justice Quarterly'' is a quarterly academic journal covering criminology and criminal justice. It was established in 1982 and is published by Routledge on behalf of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, of which it is an official journal. The ...

'' examined auto theft and carjacking in the context of "sanction threats" that promoted fear and influenced "crime preferences" among criminals, thereby redirecting ("channeling") criminal activity. The study showed that "auto thieves are reluctant to embrace the violence of carjacking due to concerns over sanction threat severity they attributed to carjacking—both formal (higher sentences) and informal (victim resistance and retaliation). Meanwhile, the carjackers are reticent to enact auto theft because of the more uncertain and putatively greater risk of being surprised by victims, a fear that appears to overcome the enhanced long-term formal penalty of taking a vehicle by force."

Prevention and response

Common carjacking ruses include: (1) bumping the victim's vehicle from behind, and taking the car when the victim gets out of the vehicle to assess damage and exchange information; (2) staging a fake car accident, sometimes with injuries, and stealing the vehicle of a passerby who stops to assist; (3) flashing lights or waving to get the victim's attention, indicating that there is a problem with the victim's car, and then taking the car once the victim pulls over; and (4) following a victim home, blocking the victim's car in a driveway or in front of a gate.
Carjacking—Don't be a Victim
', U.S. Department of State,

Bureau of Diplomatic Security The Bureau of Diplomatic Security, commonly known as Diplomatic Security (DS), is the security branch of the United States Department of State. It conducts international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, and p ...

(August 2002). Police departments, security agencies, and auto insurers have published lists of strategies for preventing and responding to carjackings.NOPD crime prevention: How to avoid being carjacked

New Orleans Police Department The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) has primary responsibility for law enforcement in New Orleans, Louisiana. The department's jurisdiction covers all of Orleans Parish, while the city is divided into eight police districts. The NOPD has ...

.Preventing Carjacking / Theft

Insurance Information Institute The Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) is a U.S. industry association which exists "to improve public understanding of insurance – what it does and how it works." Founded in 1959, the organization is based in New York City. Since ...

. Common recommendations include: * Staying alert and being aware of one's surroundings * Parking in well-lighted areas * Keeping

vehicle door A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wate ...

s locked and

windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

up * Avoiding unfamiliar or high-crime areas * Alerting police as soon as is safely possible following a carjacking * Avoid isolated and less-well-trafficked parking lots, ATMs, pay phones, etc. * When stopped in traffic, keeping some distance between the vehicle in front, so one can pull away easily if necessary. * If confronted, it is often safer to give up the vehicle and avoid resisting * Use of the vehicle as a weapon against the car jacker, or a firearm or pepper spray.

Truck carjacking

s such as trucks and armored cars may be targets of carjacking attempts.Truck Hijacking Prevention Fact Sheet
,

Texas Department of Insurance The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) regulates insurers and other companies that conduct insurance business in Texas, and assists Texas-based insurance consumers. TDI was founded in 1876 as the Department of Insurance, Statistics and History. ...

. Such carjackings may be aimed at stealing cargo, such as liquor, cigarettes, valuable goods,

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic ( analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usuall ...

or even drugs.Ronald F. Becker & Aric W. Dutelle, ''Criminal Investigation'' (4th ed.: Jones & Bartlett, 2013), p. 303. In other cases, a carjacked truck may be used to commit another crime, such as robbery or a

terrorist attack Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

.Truck Hijacking Prevention Fact Sheet
,

. Knowledge of the location of a truck carrying valuable cargo often requires inside information, and sometimes truck drivers collude with truck carjackers to facilitate the truck carjacking. This crime is often perpetuated by

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

operations or by career criminals, or by a collaboration between the two. In particular,

La Cosa Nostra The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its membe ...

has been known to orchestrate the carjacking of trucks (at locations such as Kennedy Airport in which a truck driver under Mafia influence allows carjackers to steal the truck). In the United States in 2019, over 2,600 truck thefts occurred with the average value of a trailer contents being $148,000.

Incidents by country

South Africa

Carjacking is a significant problem in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, where it is called ''hijacking''.Rory Caroll
Carjacking: the everyday ordeal testing South Africa
''Guardian'' (March 2, 2006). South Africa is thought to have the highest carjacking rate in the world. There were 16,000 reported carjackings in 1998. The figures dropped to 12,434 reported carjackings in 2005, and continued to drop until the 2011–12, when the number of carjackings was 9,475, a record low.Erin Conway-Smith
Carjackings are on the rise again in South Africa
''GlobalPost'' (May 27, 2015). Subsequently, however, carjackings increased as part of an overall increase in violent organized crime, which the

Institute for Security Studies The Institute for Security Studies, also known as ISS or ISS Africa (to distinguish itself from other similarly named institutes in other parts of the world), described itself as follows: "an African organisation which aims to enhance human se ...

attributed to poor police leadership. There were 11,221 reported carjackings in 2014. More than half of all carjackings in South Africa occurred in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

province, which includes

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

and

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

. The carjacking issue in South Africa was depicted in the film ''

Tsotsi ''Tsotsi'' is a 2005 crime drama film written and directed by Gavin Hood and produced by Peter Fudakowski. It is an adaptation of the novel ''Tsotsi'' by Athol Fugard and is a South African/UK co-production. Set in the Alexandra slum in Johan ...

'', which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, several new, unconventional anti-carjacking systems designed to harm the attacker were developed and marketed in South Africa, where carjacking had become endemic. Among these was the now defunct Blaster, a small

flame-thrower A flamethrower is a ranged incendiary device designed to project a controllable jet of fire. First deployed by the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century AD, flamethrowers saw use in modern times during World War I, and more widely in Worl ...

that could be mounted to the underside of a vehicle.

United States

Federal Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992

In 1992, Congress, in the aftermath of a spate of violent carjackings (including some in which the victims were murdered), passed the Federal Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992 (FACTA), the first federal carjacking law, making it a federal crime (punishable by 15 years to life imprisonment) to use a firearm to steal "through force or violence or intimidation" a motor vehicle that had been shipped through

interstate commerce The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amo ...

. The 1992 Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2119, took effect on October 25, 1992.Mike Folks
Carjacking Law Getting Little Use: Few Prosecutions Occur Despite Increase in Number of Cases
''Sun-Sentinel'' (January 17, 1994).18 U.S.C. § 2119
However, only a small number of federal prosecutions were imposed for carjacking the year after the act was enacted, in part because many federal carjacking cases were turned over to state prosecutions because they do not meet

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

criteria. The Federal Death Penalty Act, part of the

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, commonly referred to as the 1994 Crime Bill, the Clinton Crime Bill, or the Biden Crime Law, is an Act of Congress dealing with crime and law enforcement; it became law in 1994. It is t ...

, an omnibus crime bill, made sixty new federal crimes punishable by the

federal death penalty Capital punishment is a legal penalty under the criminal justice system of the United States federal government. It can be imposed for treason, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking, or attempted murder of a witness, juror, or court ...

; among these were the killing of a victim in the commission of carjacking. Throughout 1993, articles about carjackings appeared at the rate of more than one a week in newspapers throughout the country. The November 29, 1992, killing of two

Osceola County, Florida Osceola County (, ) is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 388,656. Its county seat is Kissimmee. Osceola County is included in the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, F ...

, men by carjackers using a stolen

9 mm 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

pistol resulted in the first federal prosecution of a fatal carjacking.

Prevalence and statistical analysis

According to the

National Crime Victimization Survey The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), administered by the US Census Bureau under the Department of Commerce, is a national survey of approximately 49,000 to 150,000 households - with approximately 240,000 persons aged 12 or older - twice ...

(NCVS) conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 1993 to 2002, some 38,000 carjackings occurred annually.Patsy Klaus
National Crime Victimization Survey, Carjacking, 1993-2002
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, July 2004. According to the survey, over this time period men were more often victims than women, blacks more than whites, and Hispanics more than non-Hispanics. 56% of carjackers were identified by victims as black, 21% white, 16% Asian or Native American, and 7% mixed race or unknown. Some 93% of carjackings occurred in urban areas. There were multiple carjackers in 56% of incidents, and the carjacker or carjackers were identified as male in 93% of incidents. A weapon was used in 74% of carjacking victimization: firearms in 45%, knives in 11%, and other weapons in 18%. Victims were injured in about 32% of completed carjackings and about 17% of attempted carjackings. Serious injuries, such as gunshot or knife wounds, broken bones, or internal injuries occurred in about 9% of incidents. About 14 murders a year involved car theft, but not all of these were carjackings. Some 68% of carjackings occurred at nighttime hours (6 p.m. to 6 a.m.). Some 98% of completed carjackings and 77% of attempted carjackings were reported to police. About 44% of carjacking incidents occurred in an open area (e.g., on the street or near public transportation) while 24% occurred in parking lots or garages or near commercial places (e.g., stores, gas stations, office buildings, restaurants/bars). According to the NCVS, from 1992 and 1996, about 49,000 completed or attempted nonfatal carjackings took place each year in the United States. The carjacking was successful in about half of the incidents. Data on fatal carjackings are not available; "about 27 homicides by strangers each year involved automobile theft," but not all of these were carjackings.Patsy Klaus
Carjackings in the United States, 1992-96
.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, March 1999.

In particular cities

Carjackings were common in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Associated Press
After Dozens of Arrests, Newark Carjackings Decline Sharply
March 21, 2011. There were 288 carjackings in the city in 2010 (a 70% increase from the previous year), and Essex County (which includes Newark) had 69 in December 2010 alone. The Associated Press reported that "unlike previous carjackings, in which thieves would strip vehicles for parts or sell them in other states, the recent wave perplexed law enforcement officials because almost all appeared to be done by thrill-seeking young men who would steal the cars for a few hours, drive them around and then abandon them." After federal, state, and law enforcement agencies formed a task force, 42 suspects were charged, and carjackings dropped dramatically. However, national media attention on carjackings in Essex County returned in December 2013, when a

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

lawyer was murdered at

The Mall at Short Hills The Mall at Short Hills, also known as the Short Hills Mall, is a shopping mall located in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey, United States. It is located west of Newark Airport and west of Manhattan, and is situated near both M ...

Millburn, New Jersey Millburn is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the township's population was 20,149, reflecting an increase of 384 (+1.9%) from the 19,765 counted in the 2000 Census, which had ...

, while defending his wife from four assailants, who were all later convicted of the crime. For several years (but no longer), the major U.S. city with the highest rates of carjacking was

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

.Tresa Baldas
Carjackers losing grip on Detroit, but strike daily
''Detroit Free Press'' (November 30, 2014). In 2008, Detroit had 1,231 carjackings, more than three a day. By 2013, that number had fallen to 701, but this was still the highest known number of carjackings for any major city in the country. The significant decrease in carjackings was credited to a coordinated effort by the

Detroit Police Department The Detroit Police Department (DPD) is a municipal police force based in and responsible for the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1865, it has nearly 2,500 officers, making it the largest law enforcement organization in Michigan. Histo ...

, the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

, and the local federal prosecutor's office. Serial carjackers were targeted for federal prosecutions and longer sentences, and in 2009 the Detroit Police Department centralized all carjacking investigations and developed a suspect profiling system. Through mid-November 2014, Detroit had 486 carjackings, down 31% from the year before, but this was still three times more than the carjackings experienced by

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

(which has ten times Detroit's population) in all of 2013. Even James Craig,

chief of police Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the b ...

of the

, was the victim of an attempted carjacking while he was in his

police cruiser A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

. A 2017 study used "Risk Terrain Modeling" analysis to identify spatial indicators of carjacking risk in Detroit. The analysis identified six factors that "were influential in the best fitting model: proximity to service stations; convenience/grocery/

liquor store A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...

s; bus stops; residential and commercial demolitions; and areas with high concentrations of drug arrests and restaurants." The study found that certain locations in Detroit "had an expected rate of carjacking that was 278 times higher than other locations." As of 2021, the American city with the highest number of carjackings is

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Chicago began experiencing a surge in carjackings after 2019, and at least 1,415 such crimes took place in the city in 2020.Jeremy Gorner & Jonathon Berlin
Carjackings more than double in Chicago during 2020, police say, perhaps as criminals blended in with masked public
''Chicago Tribune'' (January 18, 2021). According to the Chicago Police Department, carjackers are using face masks that are widely worn due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

to effectively blend in with the public and conceal their identity. 2021 saw a further increase to a 20-year high of over 1,800 carjackings.Peter Nickeas and Priya Krishnakumar
'It's a disturbing trend.' Cities see large increases in carjackings during pandemic
''CNN'' (January 23, 2022). On January 27, 2021, Mayor

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American attorney and politician serving since 2019 as the 56th mayor of Chicago. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as ...

described the worsening wave of carjackings as being 'top of mind,' and added 40 police officers to the CPD carjacking unit.Gregory Pratt & John Byrne
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says spike in carjackings ‘top of mind,’ adding 40 more police officers to carjacking unit and gathering regional mayors
''Chicago Tribune'' (January 27, 2021). Many other cities have seen a similar increase in carjackings since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 500 carjackings were recorded in

in 2021, compared to 328 in 2020 and 132 in 2019. Likewise, the police department of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

reported over 800 in 2021, compared to 170 in 2015. 281 carjackings occurred in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

in 2021 while 105 occurred there in 2018, while Oakland reported 301 carjackings in 2020 and 521 carjackings in 2021.Jeff Parsons
Once willing to defund police, Oakland, Calif. now faces a major violent crime spike
''KATV'' (January 11, 2022).

State law

Some states have a specific carjacking statute. Other states do not have a specific carjacking law, and prosecute carjackers under the general robbery statute. The law of some states, such as

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, explicitly lists a killing in the course of defending oneself against forcible entry of an occupied motor vehicle as a

justifiable homicide The concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law is a defense to culpable homicide (criminal or negligent homicide). Generally, there is a burden of production of exculpatory evidence in the legal defense of justification. In most countri ...

United Kingdom

Carjacking is an uncommon crime in Britain, making up about 1% of all vehicle thefts.

Australia

Australia does not specifically record the number of carjackings; such crimes are variously recorded as assault, robbery, motor vehicle theft, and some combination. However, a 2008 paper by the

, analyzing police and insurance records, suggested that fewer than 300 carjackings occur annually in Australia (about 0.5% of all theft incidents in the country). The paper noted that the low incidence of carjacking compared to the United States is attributable to the low rate of firearm-related crime in Australia and the fact that the "broader socioeconomic picture of Australian society is one of relative good health in terms of wealth distribution and social cohesion" providing little motivation for victimization that is "both personal and violent." The paper notes that although carjacking was rare, isolated hot spots do arise occasionally, and that since the late 1990s, " Sydney has experienced a number of carjacking clusters ... each lasting around three to six months and occurring in different locations including the eastern suburbs, the inner city and the south-west."

Philippines

The Philippine National Police keeps a record on the number of incidents of index crimes in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

including carjacking. The act of ''carnapping'', as it is known in the country, is penalized under the Anti-Carnapping Act of 2016.

References

{{Authority control

Jacking Jacking, Jackin’, or the jack is a freestyle dance move in which the dancer ripples their torso back and forth in an undulating motion. It emerged within the context of Chicago house music in the 1980s. Origins and interpretations The style i ...

Organized crime activity Violent crime Hijacking Robbery