Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T02:49:25.259Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4.9 - Robbery

from Part IV - Psychology and criminal behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2010

Jennifer M. Brown
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
Elizabeth A. Campbell
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
Get access

Summary

Robbery can vary from stealing from organizations to personal property, where the latter is often termed 'mugging', 'snatch theft' or 'street robbery'. Many studies that explore robbery do so in terms of variations in the frequencies of offence characteristics. Further, some explore the combinations of these characteristics and propose models to explain the psychological meaning of such patterns of variation. Alison reported three themes of robberies, termed 'cowboys', 'bandits' and 'Robin's men' based upon the defining features of each set of behaviours. The main motivation for robbery is a need for fast cash but the 'decision' to rob is influenced by 'street culture'. For armed robbery (commercial), it has been suggested that co-offending has an instrumental advantage, with the number of offenders allowing role differentiation. However, regardless of motive or target, robbery tends to be a group phenomenon, with group patterns evident even in the least skilled or planned crimes.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×