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.

By Trevor Bennett and Linda Durie

The report describes the work of the Domestic Burglary Task Force (DBTF) in Cambridge, which was established in July 1994 to examine the nature of residential burglary in Cambridge and to design and implement initiatives to prevent it. The group devised an overall strategy which was to divide the work into two stages: (1) a data-gathering stage, during which information about burglary in Cambridge was collected, and (2) a programme implementation stage, during which various projects were designed and implemented. The main findings of the data-gathering stage were that residential burglary in Cambridge was concentrated within specific wards to the north of the city and within specific ‘hot spots’ within these wards. The ‘hot spots’ and the ‘hot wards’ were characterised by high levels of repeat victimisation. There was some evidence that residential burglaries in the area were committed by local youths who lived in the same or adjacent wards and who selected the target areas as a result of convenience, easy access through footpaths and alleyways, and the perceived abundance of suitable targets. As a result of these findings, the DBTF identified the largest ‘hot spot’ in the north of the City, and the two wards which contained the ‘hot spot’, as the targeted area. One of the key principles of the overall programme strategy was that the nature of the solution to burglary in Cambridge should be based on sound knowledge of the nature of the problem. A number of seminars were organised for representatives of local agencies in order to identify burglary prevention strategies which would best match the nature of the problems identified. As a result of these seminars, a number of burglary prevention strategies were identified and implemented.

London: Policing and Reducing Crime Unit Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, 1999. 61p.

By Jerry H. Ratcliffe

In examining home addresses of burglars and the addresses of their targets, this study found that burglars did not, as expected, work in their own neighbourhood. Most burglars (77%) travelled away from their home suburb to do their work, travelling an average of five kilometres to their target. There was no evidence that physical boundaries separating suburbs, such as carriageways and parkland, acted as barriers inhibiting burglars’ movement. This has important implications for both urban design and crime prevention.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2003. 6p.

By The Organization of American States, Department against Transnational Organized Crime

The illegal gold trade is a growing and significant challenge in Ecuador. The spread of illegal gold mining activity has brought surges of violence and instability to remote areas while attracting organized crime, at the local and international level, and triggering an increase in money laundering and contraband. Concern regarding the disruptive and harmful impact of illegal gold mining, as well as the government’s desire to develop and expand Ecuador’s mining sector away from its reliance on small-scale and artisanal operations, have also led to a renewed focus on the challenges posed by illegal mining. There is reason to believe that the illegal gold trade and its associated criminal networks are less entrenched and developed in Ecuador than in neighboring Peru and Colombia. However, there are significant challenges facing the government as it works to combat illegal mining activity, which is increasingly accelerated by illicit cross-border contraband flows and unique vulnerabilities to money laundering activity.

Washington, DC: The Organization of American States, Department against Transnational Organized Crime, 2021. 46p.

By The Organization of American States, Department against Transnational Organized Crime

Peru’s well-developed mining sector has shaped the country’s economy and society to a significant degree. The mining sector contributes up to 10% of GDP, while minerals like gold and copper weigh heavily in Peru’s trade composition. Peru’s abundant reserves of mineral resources have helped to fuel the development of its mining sector, attracting a variety of small, medium, and large enterprises to engage in exploration and extraction. However, the country’s mineral wealth and governance challenges in remote mining areas, also offer ample opportunities for organized crime and illegal mining activity. As a result, large populations of illegal miners and transnational criminal networks have become deeply entrenched in Peru, giving the country a central role in the international illegal gold trade. While Peru has taken active steps to combat illegal gold mining and the sale and export of illegal gold, a variety of criminal actors have continued to successfully engage in and promote these illicit activities, producing detrimental effects for citizen security, the economy, and the environment.

Washington, DC: Organization of American States, Department against Transnational Organized Crime 2021. 40p.

This guide begins by describing the problem of hate crimes and reviewing factors that increase its risks. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local hate crimes problem. It reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice. Specifically, it describes what you can do to reduce underlying tension in the community that contributes to hate crimes. This guide also outlines what the police can do to address any special fear and trauma experienced by the individual victim and the racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual orientation community to which the victim belongs. Finally, it reviews the police role in monitoring hate groups that have members and conduct activities in your community.

Read more at the Center for Problem Oriented Policing

By ENACT (Enhancing Africa’s response to transnational organized crime)

Ports and airports across Africa continue to be targeted by organised crime groups to traffic illicit goods.

The objective of this report is to assess how organised crime exploits ports and airports in Africa. It aims at identifying and analysing the latest transportation trends and methods used on the continent by organised crime, to further their sphere of operations. This will include detailed explanation of the criminals involved, trafficking routes and specific modus operandi, and recommendations to identify and disrupt these organised crime groups.

The assessment may ultimately help law enforcement in the appropriate targeting and disruption of transnational organised crime groups, and elicit law enforcement cooperation between countries to effectively fight the trafficking of illicit goods via ports and airports in Africa.

Enact (Africa): Lyon, France: INTERPOL, 2020. 47p.

By Francesco Calderoni, Gian Maria Campedelli, Tommaso Comunale, Martina E Marchesi and Ernesto U Savona

This paper provides a narrative synthesis of the results of a systematic review of the social, psychological and economic factors leading to recruitment into organised crime.This is based on the analysis of evidence emerging from 47 qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method studies published in or before 2017.While the selected studies varied markedly in method and quality, several factors emerged as particularly important in understanding recruitment into organised criminal groups. These included the role of social relations (family, kinship, friendship and work-relations), criminal background and criminal skills.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2021. 28p.

By Michael Jensen, Elizabeth Yates and Sheehan Kane.

The Proud Boys were formed by Gavin McInnes, co-founder of Vice Media, in 2016 during the U.S. presidential election. Proud Boys consider themselves “Western chauvinists” who romanticize a traditional, male-dominated version of Western culture. While the Proud Boys vehemently deny adhering to a racist ideology, the organization is deeply rooted in white nationalism and misogyny. As of December 31, 2021, 83 Proud Boys members and sympathizers have allegedly carried out ideologically motivated crimes in the United States. This number includes 54 Proud Boys defendants who participated in the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021. Proud Boys defendants have come from 25 states and the District of Columbia, including 14 from Florida, 14 from New York, 7 from Washington, and 6 from Pennsylvania. Using auxiliary data from the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) project, these infographics provide information on the characteristics of U.S. Proud Boys defendants and their crimes.

College Park, MD: START, 2022. 3p.

By Richard T. Wright, Scott H. Decker and Gilbert Geis

Through extensive and candid interviews, the authors of this ground-breaking work have studied burglars' decision-making processes within the context of their streetlife culture. In this volume they present their findings in the areas of motivation, target selection, methods of entering and searching a residence, and methods of selling stolen goods, concluding with a discussion of the theoretical implications of their research.

Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996. 248p.

By Rob Mawby

Burglary has all the credentials as the 'folk crime of the new millennium', and is regularly identified as one of the crimes most feared by the public. Victims are particularly affected by burglary, and burglary is generally at the centre of crime prevention and community safety strategies. This book provides an accessible, systematic account of burglary, focusing on the problem of crime in the first main part of the book, and on policy responses in the second. This book identifies the particular characteristics of burglary as a crime, drawing upon an extensive range of research in both the UK

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan, 2001. 224p.

By Katherine Hirschfeld

Gangsterism, extortion and racketeering are currently viewed as deviant, pathological behaviors that are disconnected from formal political and economic structures, and often excluded from analysis in the fields of political science and economics. A critical reconsideration of organized crime reveals that the evolution of racketeering in systems of exchange should be understood as a natural phenomenon that can be predicted with tools from behavioral ecology originally developed to model the dynamics of predator-prey relations. These models predict the conditions under which unregulated markets evolve into hierarchical criminal syndicates, and how established organized crime groups expand and intrude into formal systems of government, creating chimeric 'gangster-states'. This book outlines the parameters of this process, and uses archival research to explore case studies of organized crime and kleptocratic state formation. A final section proposes redefining state formation as part of a longitudinal cycle of political-economic evolution that includes phases of racketeering, instability, collapse and regeneration.

Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK; New York:: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. 176p.

By EMS Foundation and Ban Animal Trading

The wild animals within the borders of South Africa are part of the heritage of every South African and we have the right to demand that our government protects wild animals against exploitation and to demand accountability from government as to what it does in this regard. Government is empowered by a cogent body of laws to perform this function and it is obliged to do so by international treaties. It is urgently necessary for government to comply with its responsibilities not only because of the ethical, moral and legal compunction to do so but also because the export of our wild animals for the financial gain of a few has become big business.

South Africa has become the largest exporter of live wild animals to Asia, where many wild animals are killed to extract potions from their carcases and are eaten as delicacies. Some are sent to languish in atrocious zoos. Some are inserted into the murky world of the illegal wildlife trade. The reality is that the South African government fails to apply its strong regulatory powers and by design or neglect allows strikingly large numbers of animals to be exported.

South Africa: EMS Foundation and Ban Animal Trading, 2020. 123p.

By Ban Animal Trading and EMS Foundation

The international trade in the majority of reptiles, amphibians and arachnids is mostly unregulated, often unlawful and a growing industry in South Africa. Data on the trade in these species is unreliable and insufficient, because most countries do not keep records or compile data unless the species is listed on the CITES Appendices. Even then the data is incomplete. One reason for this is that, unlike so-called charismatic species such as lions, elephants, tigers and primates―perceived to have higher intrinsic value―reptiles, including species such as snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, alligators and crocodiles are, in terms of public perception, and often because of the negative stereotypes attached to them, considered less desirable creatures, lack the charismatic appeal of anthropomorphic species and consequently they are afforded less attention.

South Africa: Ban Animal Trade and EMS Foundation, 2020. 94p.

By Ndiva Kofele-Kale

In the last decade a new tool has been developed in the global war against official corruption through the introduction of the offense of "illicit enrichment" in almost every multilateral anti-corruption convention. Illicit enrichment is defined in these conventions to include a reverse burden clause which triggers an automatic presumption that any public official found in "possession of inexplicable wealth" must have acquired it illicitly. …Combating Economic Crimes therefore sets out to address what has been left unanswered by these multilateral conventions, to wit, the level of burden of proof that should be placed on a public official who is accused of illicitly enriching himself from the resources of the State, balanced against the protection of legitimate community interests and expectations for a corruption-free society. The book explores the doctrinal foundations of the right to a presumption of innocence and reviews the basic due process protections afforded to all accused persons in criminal trials by treaty, customary international law, and municipal law. The book then goes on to propose a framework for balancing and ‘situationalizing’ competing human rights and public interests in situations involving possible official corruption.

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012. 248p.