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.

By Stephen Nugent, Douglas Burns, Paul Wilson and Duncan Chappell

One hundred and ten convicted robbers, both male and female, were interviewed in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland; additional perspectives were sought from robbery victims, police officers and bank security staff. Information collected from the robbers focussed on one particular robbery, and covered the following topics: . their modus operandi; . their assessment of security arrangements, including police activity; . the likelihood of crime being shifted to other areas if the banks become too tough a target; . their progression in crime; . their attitudes to staff, customers and hostages; and . their reaction to punishment and penalties.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989. 150p.

Edited and translated by Gabriel Kuhn

In May of 1989, on a quiet street in Copenhagen, police discovered an apartment that had served for years as a hideaway for Denmark’s most notorious 20th-century bank robbers. The members, who belonged to a communist organization and lived modest lives in the Danish capital, had, over a period of almost two decades, sent millions in stolen dollars acquired in spectacular heists to Third World liberation movements, in particular the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One of the most puzzling and captivating chapters from the European anti-imperialist milieu of the 1970s and 1980s, Turning Money into Rebellion is the first-ever account of the story in English, covering the events from Middle Eastern capitals and African refugee camps to the group’s fateful last robbery that earned them a record haul and left a police officer dead. The book includes historical documents, illustrations, and an exclusive interview with Torkil Lauesen and Jan Weimann, two of the group’s longest-standing members. It is a compelling tale of turning radical theory into action and concerns analysis and strategy as much as morality and political practice.

Oakland, CA: Kersplebedeb and PM Press, 2014. 240p.

By Richard Wright and Scott H. Decker

This book describes and interprets urban, predominantly African American, street robbers, and their daily lives and crimes.

The book is based on interviews with active armed robbers to determine their motives and needs, and attempts to shed new light on the process of committing armed robbery. Unlike previous studies, which focused on the often distorted accounts of incarcerated offenders, this work presents the results of field research on the streets of St. Louis. By examining how active armed robbers interpret their circumstances and prospects in the situation of real stickups, the book attempts to determine: what makes a person put a gun next to the head of another human being and demand money; why persons decide to commit armed robberies; what it feels like to participate in an armed robbery; why armed robbers target certain victims; and how armed robbers get their victims to obey commands. The book suggests measures to prevent armed robbery, including job creation, deterrence and incapacitation, reducing victim vulnerability, and situational change

Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997. 172p.

By Jamie Richard Yapp

This thesis has investigated the offence of robbery. Specifically, the semi-systematic review analysed commercial armed robbery, grouping offenders in terms of an apparent scale of professionalism to amateurism. Within armed robbery, target hardening strategies appear to have reduced opportunities for professionals, with a corresponding increase in amateur armed robbers fuelled by drug habits. The empirical study found that levels of interaction used by an offender with a victim increased with offender age. Interaction was lower for a robbery committed in an external location and for offenders with previous convictions for offences against the person and property. The violence facet could not be labelled as a specific discriminatory predictor. The findings from the research and semi-systematic review distinguished between two types of robbery offender; a career professional and an amateur antisocial robber. A career professional is older and more experienced, more likely to offend in a commercial location, commit the crime in a planned and controlled manner, use high levels of interaction and lower levels of violence. An amateur antisocial robber is more likely to commit an offence outside, have previous convictions for offences against the person and property and/or be under the influence of an illegal substance. The offence is likely to be opportunistic and chaotic, characterised by high levels of violence and low levels of interaction. The Inventory of Offender Risk, Needs and Strengths (IORNS) psychometric measure was analysed. It has the potential to provide an assessment of a robbery offender‟s ongoing treatment and risk management. However, it requires further validation and reliability analysis before it is deemed appropriate in doing so. The case study highlighted the impact of cannabis misuse on a robbery offender‟s behaviour pattern and mental illness. Implications for offender treatment needs, future therapeutic intervention and risk management are discussed along with the need for further validation of the proposed model.

Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham, 2010. 215p.

By Simon Hallsworth

Street crime remains high on the public and political agenda, and is frequently the subject of media attention and concern. This book aims to provide a detailed and accessible account of the phenomenon, placing the subject in its theoretical, historical and political context. It addresses the question of how serious a problem street crime really is, and why it has become such a hot political issue. The book draws upon contemporary debates about the supposed presence of an emerging underclass, and in particular the 'criminalisation' and 'racialisation' of black communities with whom it has come to be particular associated in the public mind. The author then develops a framework of analysis which focuses upon the relationship of three key variables: the production of motivated offenders, the availability and suitability of victims, and a study of the limits inherent in current control strategies. Finally, the book concludes that a successful prevention strategy requires an agenda for revitalising the public sphere in inner city areas --rather than reliance policies of situational crime prevention, zero tolerance policing and increased punishment

Cullompton, UK: Willan, 2005. 202p.

By Topher L. McDougal

Illicit economies are notoriously difficult to detect and quantify for the simple reason that participants have incentives to keep their activities clandestine. This paper outlines and implements a method for estimating the markets for illicit small arms, sex, and drugs as constituent components of the total cash economy for the San Diego metropolitan area. The method has two parts: first it derives the total cash economy of San Diego; second it fits a model predicting that amount for each available year as a function of index variables for three distinct illicit markets (small arms, sex, and drugs) and the licit cash economy. It estimates that the market for cash-based purchases of small arms in San Diego in 2013 was $920 million – slightly larger than the illicit sex industry, and much smaller than both the market for illicit drugs and the licit cash economy. Limitations of the method are discussed, including the potential for better proxy variables to improve reliability.

San Diego: Small Arms Data Observatory, 2015. 13p.

By Peter Adamson, Giorgina Brown, John Micklewright, Sylke Schnepf and Anna Wright.

This report represents the first ever attempt to draw a comparative picture of the physical abuse of children in the 27 richest nations of the world. UNICEF research estimates that almost 3,500 children under the age of 15 die from physical abuse and neglect every year in the industrialized world. The greatest risk is among younger children. A small group of countries - Spain, Greece, Italy, Ireland and Norway - appear to have an exceptionally low incidence of child maltreatment deaths; Belgium, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Hungary and France have levels that are four to six times higher. The United States, Mexico and Portugal have rates that are between 10 and 15 times higher than those at the top of the league table. The good news is that child deaths from maltreatment appear to be declining in the great majority of industrialized countries.

New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (Italy), Innocenti Research Centre, 2003. 40p.

By Prachi Pundir,Ashrita Saran,Howard White,Ramya Subrahmanian andJill Adona

AbstractBackground:More than half of the children in the world experience some form of interpersonal violence every year. As compared with high‐income countries, policy responses in low‐and middle‐income countries (LMICs) are limited due to resource constraints and paucity of evidence for effective interventions to reduce violence against children in their own contexts, amongst other factors.Objectives:The aim of this evidence and gap map (EGM) is to provide an overview of the existing evidence available and to identify gaps in the evidence base on the effectiveness of interventions to reduce violence against children in LMICs. This report covers evidence published in English; a follow‐up study is under preparation focusing on evidence in five additional languages—Arabic, Chinese, French, Portu-guese and Spanish.Methods:The intervention‐outcome framework for this EGM is based on INSPIRE—Seven Strategies for Ending Violence against Children, published by WHO and other partners in 2016. The seven strategies include implementation and enforcement of laws; norms and values, safe environment; parent–child and caregiver support; in-come and economic strengthening; response and support services; education and life-skills. The search included both academic and grey literature available online. We included impact evaluations and systematic reviews that assessed the effectiveness of interventions to reduce interpersonal violence against children (0–18 years) inLMICs (World Bank, 2018b). Interventions targeting subpopulation of parents,teachers and caregivers of 0–18 years’age group were also included. A critical appraisal of all included studies was carried out using standardised tools.

Oslo, Norway: Campbell Collaborative, 2020. 37p.

By Mary Catherine Maternowska; Alina Potts and Deborah Fry

Vulnerability to violence evolves in complex socio-economic and cultural contexts. This locally driven research analyses how institutional, community, interpersonal and individual factors interact to affect violence in children’s lives. It also begins to identify pathways to better inform national prevention strategies. The study places age and gender at its center, focusing on girls and boys at different stages of the life course, from the very young to older adolescents. A cornerstone of the study is to link quality research, translating it into evidence, and turning evidence into effective and meaningful interventions. This snapshot provides insights to the complexities that surround violence. Understanding and responding to the political as well as community contexts in which violence occurs builds more meaningful responses. Country teams are now preparing to move to the field and test best approaches to violence prevention based on evidence and using data to drive change.

New York: UNICEF, United Nations Children's Fund, 2017. 10p.

By Jeannie Duckworth

Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, with Fagin, Sykes, the Artful Dodger, and children trained as pickpockets and sent out as burglar’s accomplices, provides an unforgettable fictional image of the Victorian underworld. Fagin’s Children is an account of the reality of child crime in 19th century Britain and the reaction of the authorities to it. It reveals both the poverty and misery of many children’s lives in the growing industrial cities of Britain and of changing attitudes toward the problem.

London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2003. 276p.

By David A. Green

This title examines the role of political culture and penal populism in the response to the emotive subject of child-on-child homicide. Green explores the reasons underlying the vastly differing responses of the English and Norwegian criminal justice systems to the cases of James Bulger and Silje Redergard respectively. Whereas James Bulger's killers were subject to extreme press and public hostility, and held in secure detention for nine months before being tried in an adversarial court, and served eight years in custody, a Redergard's killers were shielded from public antagonism and carefully reintegrated into the local community. This book argues that English adversarial political culture creates far more incentives to politicize high-profile crimes than Norwegian consensus political culture. Drawing on a wealth of empirical research, Green suggests that the tendency for politicians to justify punitive responses to crime by invoking harsh political attitudes is based upon a flawed understanding of public opinion. In a compelling study, Green proposes a more deliberative response to crime is possible by making English culture less adversarial and by making informed public judgment more accessible.

Oxford University Press. Oxford. 2008. 353p.

By Katherine Covell and R. Brian Howe

This book examines the risk factors surrounding children at risk of experiencing and perpetrating violence, and looks at the positive role that children's rights can play in their protection.The authors propose that violence in childhood is not spontaneous: that children are raised to become violent in poorly functioning families and child-unfriendly environments. They may be exposed to toxic substances in utero, to maltreatment in infancy, to domestic violence or parental criminality as they grow up. Each of these risk factors is empirically linked with the development of antisocial and aggressive behaviour, and each reflects a violation of children's rights to protection from maltreatment. The authors show how respecting children's rights and safeguarding them from exposure to violence can shift the balance between risk and protective factors and, as a result, reduce the incidence and severity of childhood violence.

Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2008. 288p.

By Shannan Catalano

Presents findings from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) on the characteristics of burglary, with comparisons between households where members were present and not present. It also examines the extent to which individuals in the residence are violently victimized when at home during these encounters. The NCVS classifies victimization as personal, rather than property crime, when a household member is present and experiences violence during a household burglary. This report classifies these violent burglaries differently so that they may be compared to traditionally classified burglaries. It also discusses crime characteristics such as household structure, location and type of residence, method of entry, time of day, type of violence, weapon use, injury, and reporting to police. Data on nonfatal violent victimization (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault) are drawn from the NCVS. Data on homicides are drawn from the Supplementary Homicide Report of the FBIs Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2010. 13p.

By David W.M. Sorensen

During the 18-year period 1990 to 2007, the number of reported residential burglaries (indbrud i beboelse) was very stable. This changed in 2008 to 2010, when burglary increased by 30% (averaged over these three years) as compared to the previous 18-year average. Seen in its most extreme light, the number of reported burglaries in 2009 was 65.3% higher than in 2005. Little solid evidence exists as to why residential burglary increased so dramatically in 2008 and 2009. The current report examines this question using POLSAS data on 234,745 residential burglaries reported in Denmark during the six-year period 2005-2010, plus data on long term crime trends (1990-2010) and other social indicators. The report begins with a comparison of the rise in burglary to trends in overall Danish property crime. This reveals that the increase in burglary is far greater than that for any other major crime category. Burglary is therefore unique in this regard. Trends in Danish burglary are then compared to burglary trends in the EU and other Nordic countries to see if Denmark’s increase is part of a wider EU/Nordic phenomenon. The EU countries worst hit by the economic recession of 2008 experienced the sharpest increases in burglary. Denmark shares little in common with these countries, but shares much in common with Sweden, which also experienced a (far more modest) rise in burglary. In sum, domestic and international trend analyses reveal that the increase in Danish burglary probably has multiple causes emanating from both within and outside Denmark.

Copenhagen: Danish Crime Prevention Council, 2011. 64p.

By Amy Randall and Martin Gill

In a study commissioned by Churchill Home Insurance, Perpetuity Research interviewed 15 convicted burglars to help understand what factors motivate burglary. The report considers various aspects such as how targets are selected, the level of planning and the equipment used, the significance of security measures, and how stolen goods are sold on. It also covers how the interviewees perceived the legal change made in 2013 that clarified the rights of householders to use force to protect themselves or others in their homes. The report provides a fascinating insight in to the thought process of a small sample of those who have committed burglary

Tunbridge Wells, UK: Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International, 2014. 48p.

By Richard F. Culp, Phillip M. Kopp and Candace McCoy

Traditionally considered an offense committed against the property of another, burglary is nevertheless often regarded as a violent crime. For purposes of statistical description, both the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) list it as a property crime. But burglary is prosecuted as a violent crime under the federal Armed Career Criminal Act, is sentenced in accord with violent crimes under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, and is regarded as violent in state law depending on varied circumstances. The United States Supreme Court has treated burglary as either violent or non-violent in different cases. This study explored the circumstances of crimes of burglary and matched them to state and federal laws. Analyzing UCR, NCVS, and the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data collections for the ten year period 1998-2007, it became clear that the majority of burglaries do not involve physical violence and scarcely even present the possibility of physical violence. Overall, the incidence of actual violence or threats of violence during burglary ranged from a low of .9% in rural areas based upon NIBRS data, to a high of 7.6% in highly urban areas based upon NCVS data. At most, 2.7% involved actual acts of violence. A comprehensive content analysis of the provisions of state burglary and habitual offender statutes showed that burglary is often treated as a violent crime instead of prosecuting and punishing it as a property crime while separately charging and punishing for any violent acts that occasionally co-occur with it. Legislative reform of current statutes that do not comport with empirical descriptions of the characteristics of burglaries is contemplated, primarily by requiring at the minimum that the burglary involved an occupied building if it is to be regarded as a serious crime, and preferably requiring that an actual act of violence or threatened violence occurred in order for a burglary to be prosecuted as a violent crime.

New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2015. 97p.

By Paul F. Cromwell, James N. Olson and Di Aunn W. Avary

Information from 30 active burglars in an urban Texas metropolitan area of 250,000 population formed the basis of an analysis of the extent to which residential burglars use rational processes to choose burglary targets and the environmental factors that affect their choices.

The analysis also focused on the role of drug use, marketing strategies for stolen property, and the deterrence provided by the criminal justice system. The burglars were recruited by three informants referred from local criminal justice agencies. A researcher drove with each burglar to residential sites previously burglarized, and the burglar discussed and evaluated each site. Findings showed that burglars are opportunistic and that burglaries can be reduced by increasing the difficulty of committing the burglary, reducing the potential gain, and providing the illusion that the residence is occupied.

Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice, 1990. 236p.

By Pat Mayhew

This analysis looks at residential burglary as measured in the United States, Canada, England, and Wales, drawing principally on 1980's data derived from the U.S. National Crime Survey, and the British Crime Survey (which covers both England and Wales).

Among other cross-cultural burglary comparisons, the report presents findings showing U.S. householders to be more vulnerable to burglary than householders in either Canada or England and Wales. In addition to these substantive comparisons, the study focused major attention on methodological procedures required for comparing data gathered by surveys whose designs are substantially different. To improve comparability, the author 'reanalyzed' survey data to take account of five differences in the ways the surveys dealt with burglary data (differences in hierarchical classification procedures, series counting, types of property covered, respondent eligibility for reporting household crimes, and treatment of no-force attempts). The reanalysis process required to adjust for each of these differences is described. The study also made 'softer' adjustments, based on methodological literature, to moderate the effects of seven remaining differences for which more precise corrections through reanalysis were not possible. Finally, levels of burglary offenses recorded by the police were compared with the adjusted survey results for each country to determine which index provided the better measure of crime for cross-cultural analyses. The study concluded that adjusted survey rates -- though not without limitation -- permitted more accurate cross-cultural comparisons, due to incomparabilities in crime reporting and recording practices affecting police rate comparisons among the three countries. Footnotes, tables, figures, references, and appendixes.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 1987. 63p.

By David W.M. Sorensen

This report examines the distribution of residential burglary in Denmark. Specifically, it examines 31,081 completed burglaries (with entry or loss) at villas, apartments and farmhouses reported to police in 2002 by season/month/week of year, day of week, and hour of day. The report has two purposes: (1) to describe a method for estimating the temporal distribution of crimes - such as burglary and auto theft - that are difficult to pinpoint precisely in time, and (2) to provide an overview of the days and times when reported burglaries occur. The distribution of burglary across time is interesting because it suggests the days and times at which crime prevention efforts should be most effective.

Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, School of Law. 2004. 36p.