CRAVED MODEL: What are the Hot Products?
Ronald Clarke, one of the most prominent criminologists involved in Crime Prevention, proposed a
model to explain why some products are craved by thieves. The hot products sought by thieves
are concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable and disposable, or CRAVED, and he
showed that CRAVED helped to explain theft preferences for some common forms of theft,
including shoplifting, residential burglary, and auto theft
Concealable. Things that can be hidden in pockets or bags are more vulnerable to shoplifters and
other sneak thieves. Things that are difficult to identify or can easily be concealed after being stolen
are also more at risk. In some cases, thefts may even be concealed from the owners of goods, as
when lumber or bricks left lying around on building sites are stolen.
Removable. The fact that cars and bikes are mobile helps explain why they are so often stolen. Nor
is it surprising that laptop computers are often stolen since these are not only desirable but also easy
to carry. What is easy to carry depends on the kind of theft. Both burglars and shoplifters steal
cigarettes, liquor, medicines, and beauty aids from supermarkets, but burglars take them in much
larger quantities.
Available. Desirable objects that are widely available and easy to find are at higher risk. This
explains why householders try to hide jewelry and cash from burglars. It also helps explain why
cars become more at risk of theft as they get older. They become increasingly likely to be owned by
people living in poor neighborhoods with less off-street parking and more offenders living nearby.
Valuable. Thieves will generally choose the more expensive goods, particularly when they are
stealing to sell. But value is not simply defined in terms of resale value. Thus, when stealing for
their own use, juvenile shoplifters may select goods that confer status among their peers. Similarly,
joyriders are more interested in a car's performance than its financial value.
Enjoyable. Hot products tend to be enjoyable things to own or consume, such as liquor, tobacco,
and DVDs. Thus, residential burglars are more likely to take DVD players and televisions than
equally valuable electronic goods, such as microwave ovens. This may reflect the pleasure-loving
lifestyle of many thieves (and their customers).
Disposable. Only recently has systematic research begun on the relationship between hot products
and theft markets, but it is clear that thieves will tend to select things that are easy to sell. This helps
explain why batteries and disposable razors are among the most frequently stolen items from
American drug stores.
The CRAVED model can be applied to some wildlife crimes like Poaching or illitic trade of
wildlife, but as Clarke has argued, what is stolen depends not just on target characteristics but on a
variety of other factors including the kind of theft, the specific motives of the thieves, and the
resources available to them, so putting together two different kind of behaviours like illegal
organized trade, and local consumption is useless. In other words the target, the product and by-
product will depend in part on the characteristics of the offender.
According to the CRAVED model if We take elephant meat and Ivory as an example We can draw
the following conclusions
Ivory is more removable than meat. An illicit revenue of 10 elephants tusks can be
trafficked in a back of private car. The meat from these 10 elephants would need 20 lorries.
Ivory is also more valuable per kg than meat.
If the offender has contacts in the Ivory Illegal Market, Ivory is at least as disposable as
meat if not more disposable. It is more likely to sell two elephant tusks to a single person
rather to two tons of meat. Meat has to be sold in a very short time to not lose all its value,
so the market has to be close to the place where the elephant is killed. On the contrary the
value of the ivory remains stable, so the offfender can sell it when opportune.
If the offencer havent contacts in the ivory market but in the local consumption market of
meat, is quite likely He gonna choose more available species like Cane Rat. It is not only
that there are more cane rats than elephants but access to cane rats is easier because they are
not protected Poaching. Cane rats are also easier to poach than elephant. Cane rat is also
more remobable and disposable than elephant meat due to its size. The reamins of an
elephant are highly visibles and may lead an investigation, but poaching cane rats leaves less
evidences, so is more concealable.
The first step to understand what the targets are and what is product and by-product We need to
distinguish between two kind of behaviours and two kind of targets.
Unthreatened Threatened
Species Species
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In summary, Threatened & Protected Species are more valuable than Unthreatened Species while
Unthreatened Species are more availables. People will be on Local Consumprion or Organized
Trade according to the resources He or She owns. The targets for Local Consumpiton will be most
likely Unprotected Species, While Organized Trade will target Protected Species.
