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It organizes basic factors that contribute to robbery problems. Though no single factor completely accounts for the street robbery problem, the interrelated dynamics among victims , locations , offenders, and routines all contribute to street robbery patterns. Street robberies occur when motivated offenders encounter suitable victims in an environment that facilitates robbery.
A street robbery problem emerges when victims repeatedly encounter offenders in the same area. In short, a combination of circumstances will lead to a robbery, not any single circumstance. For example, a street robbery is likely to occur when an offender, pressed for cash, spots a drunken person leaving a bar alone, heading toward a poorly lit, isolated location.
A pattern of robberies could occur if offenders notice drunken people taking similar routes after leaving the bar. Different types of routines can change offender, victim and location characteristics, thus altering robbery patterns e. Depending on the specific details of a street robbery problem, the relative importance of each side of the triangle and routines will vary. Addressing any one element in Figure 1 might reduce a problem, but addressing more than one side will better ensure that the robbery problem will decline.
The sections below describe each of the four factors in more detail. Compared with commercial or other types of robberies, street robberies tend to be more opportunistic and occur in a more open and less predictable environment. Though some often consider street robbery a crime of opportunity involving little to no planning, street robbers do engage in decision-making processes.
The following sections describe three factors that influence a person's decision to commit street robbery, and the acronym CAP summarizes them. C ash needs. The immediate need for cash is a major reason why people rob. For instance, 80 out of 81 St. Louis street robbers claimed their immediate need for cash was a primary reason for committing the crime. If victims do not have cash on hand, robbers can take and sell other items to meet cash needs. A ttack methods.
The ability to use certain attack methods in particular settings might also affect a person's decision to commit street robbery. Street robbers use four main attack methods: confrontations, cons, blitzes, and snatch-thefts. For example, confrontations were most common in one U. These methods are not mutually exclusive and can change during the course of the robbery.
Each attack method is described below. The offender demands property or possessions at the moment of contact with the victim.
The offender will usually use verbal commands to gain compliance e. Violence might follow if the victim does not comply. The offender uses violence first to gain control over the victim i. The actual robbery occurs after the offender immobilizes the victim.
The offender uses a distraction to catch the victim off guard. For example, an offender might ask someone for the time or directions before attacking. Using a legitimate distraction enables the robber to gain contact with the victim without causing alarm. This tactic occurs very quickly. No verbal communication occurs between the offender and the victim before the robbery.
The offender typically grabs visible property e. This issue has important implications for problem analysis because crimes identified as "street thefts" are actually street robberies. P lanning. Street robberies appear tactically simple and quickly completed, but they are seldom completely unplanned. Robbers learn which tactics work in what situations based on prior experience.
So what might appear as an impulsive act could be based on a plan developed from prior experience. Immediate circumstances might also affect planning. For example, a street robber might plan target selection based on the availability of weapons and accomplices. The idea is that offenders use basic planning to overcome some of the situational challenges of street robbery. Therefore, police could prevent street robbery by addressing certain situational factors.
This guide's response section addresses some of these opportunity-reducing strategies. Victim demographics are informative, but it is vital to understand how they relate to routine activities and risk. Finding that minorities have a heightened risk of street robbery in your community is helpful only as a first step. You still have to discover why. Perhaps the minorities are undocumented workers whom offenders rob because the victims often work in unfamiliar neighborhoods, carry cash and won't report the crime to the police.
This scenario shows how linking demographics to routines could reveal intervention points that would otherwise have gone unnoticed by examining demographics alone. Demographic information also identifies less- promising responses. Property-marking for cell phones and MP3 players, for instance, might not reduce street robberies in areas where most victims are senior citizens who carry cash but not electronic gadgets.
For prevention purposes, it is useful to look at victims from the robber's perspective. Five characteristics of potential victims appear particularly critical, and the acronym VALUE summarizes them. V ulnerable. Offenders prefer targets they can intimidate, subdue or overpower.
For example, senior citizens or those unlikely to report their victimization to the police e. Some targets, however, might be less vulnerable than initially perceived and able to defend themselves from an attack. The amount of time spent by victims, offenders, their families, and juries during court trials also take away from community productivity. Anderson, Elijah. Beckett, Katherine. New York: Oxford University Press, Cook, Philip J.
Gun Violence: The Real Costs. Felson, Marcus. Crime and Everyday Life. Madriz, Esther. Skogan, Wesley G. Crime does not just affect individuals. Communities which experience higher levels of crime are also adversely affected:. Crimes such as shoplifting and fraud cost businesses in the UK billions of pounds each year. Increasingly thieves are moving away from more traditional crimes such as robberies and are instead looking to use the internet to commit crime.
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