By Jenny Mouzos, Carlos Carcach

This analysis of 16,235 records relating to armed robbery in Australia between 1996 and 1998 finds that there were no differences in the type of weapon used by an offender of armed robbery based on the type of victim selected, whether an individual or an organisation; generally, knives were used most often to commit armed robbery, although when the target was a bank, credit union or building society a firearm was more frequently used; and there were no differences in the type of weapon used according to gender and age of offenders.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2001. 54p.