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2.4 - Acquisitive Crime

from Part II - Psychology and Criminal Behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

By
Helen Gavin
Edited by
Jennifer M. Brown  and
Miranda A. H. Horvath
Jennifer M. Brown
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Miranda A. H. Horvath
Affiliation:
University of Suffolk
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Summary

Acquisitive crime is a wide-ranging category in which the offender derives material gain by illegal means, usually from another person, but sometimes from organisations. The category includes shoplifting, burglary, robbery, larceny, piracy, and fraud. There are some inherent similarities in the motivations underpinning these crimes, but the differences are worthy of examination and manifest in the investigative processes of detection and prevention. As with many other types of crime, there is no simple underlying theoretical position that leads to an explanation for acquisitive, there is no one personality type associated with theft or armed robbery or piracy. This chapter examines some of the complex psychological explanations for people acquiring property and goods that do not belong to them, including evolutionary models, mental disorder, psychopathy, gender effects, cyberpsychology and individual vs social factors.

Keywords

FraudKleptomaniaPiracyShopliftingTheft
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Forensic Psychology , pp. 246 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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