Does Chemical Property Marking Deter Burglary? Results from a New Danish Experiment

Research Question Does enrollment of a burglarized household in a chemical property marking program reduce the risk of repeat burglary of the household? Data This randomized controlled trial utilizes a sample of 12,000 previously burgled households in North Zealand, Denmark, randomly divided into treatment, placebo, and control groups. Methods Treatment households received a letter describing local burglary problems and were offered a free chemical property marking kit including warning stickers to deter would-be burglars. Placebo households received a letter outlining generic methods of burglary prevention but were not offered a property marking kit. Control households were not contacted. Results A process evaluation shows that only 29% of the 4000-household treatment group both registered for the experiment and posted warning stickers as instructed. An intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis conducted after 15½ months indicated no statistically significant ( p