ie. scratching another car with something like a car key
I've never heard of it in the UK before. My first exposure to it was watching 'Pulp Fiction' I think.
Happened to an acquaintance not long ago. Parked very expensive car in the wrong neighbourhood.
I don't think it's an exclusively American practice. I remember it being a 'thing' decades ago here (even before Pulp Fiction!).
Though personally I think it should be legal to trash any car
that is parked other than a legal parking place. If it's not legally-parked it should be assumed to be like any other bit of junk someone dumps in a public street (like old matresses or outdated computers). Nobody would really care if I damaged an old sofa that was blocking the pavement, why should it be any different if it's a car?
The tendency of drivers to park their vehicles anywhere they can physically get them to fit, regardless of inconvenience to others, is annoying. I would like to see a superhero, the pedestrian-avenger, whose sole power is the power to disintegrate illegally-parked vehicles.