The ‘oldest tricks in the book’ don’t work! Reports of burglary by DUMA (original) (raw)

The ‘oldest tricks in the book’ don’t work! Reports of burglary by DUMA detainees in Western Australia

Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, 2014

Explores the methods and motivations of those actively involved in committing burglaries. Foreword Research investigating the methods and motivations of burglars has typically focused on incarcerated offenders. The Australian Institute of Criminology’s Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) program provided an opportunity for the authors to explore the methods and motivations of those actively involved in committing burglaries, whether or not they had actually been caught or detained for that offence. The findings support Routine Activity Theory, indicating that offenders consider a number of factors in determining whether a property will be targeted for a break and enter offence. As might be expected, opportunistic burglars choose easy to access properties, stay a minimum length of time and take goods that can be disposed of easily. It was concluded that simple prevention strategies could minimise the risk of becoming a victim of opportunistic burglary, which also has implications...

Residential burglary: methodological and theoretical underpinnings. In J. Brown and E. Campbell (Eds.) Cambridge handbook of forensic psychology. First edition. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press

Residential Burglary: methodological and theoretical underpinnings By Claire Nee To appear in Residential burglary: a psychological perspective. In J. Brown and E. Campbell (Eds.) Cambridge handbook of forensic psychology. First edition. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. Definition Surprisingly little focus has been given to explanations of specific types of crime, and the motivations, cognitions and behaviour that exemplify them. Of the property crimes which make up a notable proportion of recorded offending, residential burglary has been researched the most and represents the single-most developed type of offender-based research. Contrary to common belief, a burglary is not necessarily for theft. It can apply to any crime, such as assault or sexual harassment, whether the intended criminal act is committed or not. Originally under English Common Law burglary was limited to entry in residences at night, but it has been expanded to all criminal entries into any building, or ...

Understanding Decisions to Burglarize from the Offender's Perspective

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Building on past research, this study closely examined the decision-making processes of 422 randomly-selected, incarcerated male and female burglars across three states (North Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio). The central research questions that guided the project included the following: 1. What motivates burglars to engage in burglary? 2. What factors are considered by burglars during target selection? 3. What deters burglars from burglarizing specific targets? 4. What techniques do burglars use when engaging in burglary? 5. Are their gender differences in burglary motivations, target selection and techniques? In addition, this study was designed to specifically assess the deterrent effect, if any, of burglar alarms on offender’s decisions to burglarize. To address these research questions, we relied on a self-administered survey data collection process using an instrument designed specifically for this study. The following are some of the central findings: 1. What m...