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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this article by Wright et al. was to examine the level of expertise and decision making among residential burglars.
METHODOLOGY:
An experimental design was employed. Forty-seven active resident burglars were recruited through the efforts of a street-based field worker. Specifics regarding recruitment were not included but can be found in Wright et al. (1992) or Wright and Decker (1994). The number of the offenders admitted lifetime break-ins ranged from 4 to over 900, with a mean of 148 and a median of 50. The years of experience in burglaries ranged from 1-32 years with a mean and median of 11. Only eight of the burglars were legitimately employed; seven held part-time positions. The control group consisted of members from two non-profit organizations which provided job training and recreational facilities for the city's residents. Generally, those attending the organizations were almost invariably unemployed, and economically disadvantaged. The control group was interviewed to measure self-reported involvement in residential burglary. Those who admitted any such involvement were interviewed, but their responses were excluded from the analysis. Fifty-six control members were interviewed; thirty-four of them were non-offenders and were selected as the final control group to be compared to the experimental group based on age, sex, and race. After the subjects were interviewed they were shown a set of photographs of houses that were randomly manipulated to seem more attractive to a burglar or not. The subjects had 30 seconds to respond. The photographs were manipulated to seem unattractive by including an alarm, a beware of dog sign, an extra lock, or a car in the driveway. Precautions were taken to ensure that the house was not targeted as attractive or unattractive to a burglar irrespective of the feature manipulated. After the subjects were asked whether the house would be an attractive or unattractive target to a burglar, they were asked a set of checklist questions which served as a means of collecting additional information about the characteristics of the immediate environment that influence the selection of residential burglary targets.
A recognition memory test was also conducted to test for a difference in burglary expertise between the burglars and the control group. The subjects were shown a different set of photographs and were asked if they were identical to the ones shown earlier. The features in the photographs varied. The subjects had 30 seconds to respond.
Two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The findings suggested that active burglars possess and use a specialist knowledge in selecting and recalling targets for burglary that was different from non-offenders. The first important finding suggested that active burglars focused on a different mix of environmental cues than the control subjects. The controls were significantly less willing than burglars to respond positively to the neutral houses and the house with the fitted lock. When compared to the responses to the neutral houses, the presence of a car in the driveway significantly reduced the attractiveness of a house for the burglars, but not for the control subjects. In contrast, the presence of an extra lock significantly reduced the attractiveness of the house for the control group, but not for the burglars. While there was a significant difference in the number of positive responses for each of the manipulated features, there was only a marginal (p=.054) overall difference between the two groups. The other major finding suggested that the burglars had a significantly higher level of memory recognition for the relevant cues than the matched non-offender control group. There was also a significant variation in performance according to the feature manipulated.
The author concluded that the findings suggested that the offenders were drawing on cognitive skills directly related to their experience of residential burglary. The author noted that it was debatable whether the offenders could be considered "experts," but that they definitely possessed and used a specialist knowledge in selecting and recalling targets.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Environmental Factors
Adult Crime
Adult Offender
Offender Decision Making
Burglary Offender
Property Crime
Offender Characteristics
04-05
Language: en |