Super-Cocooning Against Property Crime: Do Visual Primes Affect Support and Does Race Matter

American citizens are significantly more likely to experience property crime victimization than violent crime victimization. During a staffing crisis, police prioritize limited resources in combating serious crime; however, property crimes remain impactful to the community. Therefore, agencies need to consider innovative ways to control property crime, such as “super-cocooning” strategies that alert residents to recent offenses. These strategies intend to empower the community to implement guardianship and crime prevention measures. For these strategies to be effective, they require public buy-in and support. The present study implements a preregistered information provision survey experiment (N = 2412), similar to the strategy of super-cocooning, to assess whether the public is more likely to support such strategies to combat property crime. Although the sample held overall high support of this strategy, exposure to a super-cocooning door hanger prime produced no significant changes in perceived effectiveness. However, there was observed racial heterogeneity in the treatments: non-White respondents assigned to the treatment relative to White respondents experienced significantly increased support of super-cocooning strategies. Implications for light-footprint crime control strategies, particularly during a staffing crisis, are discussed.

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Publication Details

Journal
Social Sciences
Published
2025-07-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14070429
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Crime Patterns and Interventions
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.20
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article

Super-Cocooning Against Property Crime: Do Visual Primes Affect Support and Does Race Matter

Brandon Tregle, Hunter M. Boehme
1 citations
Social Sciences
Crime Patterns and Interventions
4.20
article

Super-Cocooning Against Property Crime: Do Visual Primes Affect Support and Does Race Matter

Brandon Tregle, Hunter M. Boehme
article en
1 citations

Abstract

American citizens are significantly more likely to experience property crime victimization than violent crime victimization. During a staffing crisis, police prioritize limited resources in combating serious crime; however, property crimes remain impactful to the community. Therefore, agencies need to consider innovative ways to control property crime, such as “super-cocooning” strategies that alert residents to recent offenses. These strategies intend to empower the community to implement guardianship and crime prevention measures. For these strategies to be effective, they require public buy-in and support. The present study implements a preregistered information provision survey experiment (N = 2412), similar to the strategy of super-cocooning, to assess whether the public is more likely to support such strategies to combat property crime. Although the sample held overall high support of this strategy, exposure to a super-cocooning door hanger prime produced no significant changes in perceived effectiveness. However, there was observed racial heterogeneity in the treatments: non-White respondents assigned to the treatment relative to White respondents experienced significantly increased support of super-cocooning strategies. Implications for light-footprint crime control strategies, particularly during a staffing crisis, are discussed.

Social SciencesVol. 14(7)
University of South Carolina (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Crime Patterns and Interventions
4.20
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