Displacement of crime and diffusion of crime control benefits in large-scale geographic areas: a systematic review Cody W. Telep & David Weisburd & Charlotte E. Gill & Zoe Vitter & Doron Teichman Published online: 28 June 2014 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 Abstract Objectives To conduct a systematic review examining the extent to which there is crime displacement or a diffusion of crime control benefits in social control interven- tions implemented in medium sized or large geographic areas. Methods A number of search strategies were used to identify and code eligible experimental or quasi-experimental studies that measured displacement in areas larger than crime hot spots. A total of 33 publications covering 43 quasi-experimental studies were identified as eligible. Nineteen of these publications covering 20 studies were included in a meta-analysis. Results The narrative results overall suggest that displacement is not a common occurrence in interventions implemented at larger units of geography and a diffusion of crime control benefits is somewhat more likely to occur. The effect sizes from the meta-analyses suggest that, while the interventions, on average, were associated with a significant decline in crime, displacement was not likely to occur. The meta-analyses found no significant overall evidence of displacement or a diffusion of benefits. Conclusions These findings are in line with previous reviews that have focused on displacement at smaller geographic units. When examining larger geographic scales J Exp Criminol (2014) 10:515–548 DOI 10.1007/s11292-014-9208-5 C. W. Telep (*) School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave. Mail Code 4420, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA e-mail: cody.telep@asu.edu D. Weisburd : C. E. Gill : Z. Vitter Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA D. Weisburd Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel D. Teichman Faculty of Law, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel