Citation

Reale KS, Beauregard E, Chopin J. Crim. Justice Behav. 2022; 49(1): 98-116.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/00938548211023541

PMID

34803192

PMCID

PMC8597185

Abstract

Criminal expertise relates to the notion that some individuals may develop domain-specific offending skills that differentiate them from those with less skills or experience (i.e., novices). In the expertise literature, burglary has emerged as a distinct type of "expert" offense, therefore the current study sought to determine whether criminal expertise is more evident in the crime-commission process of sexual burglary compared to sexual robbery. We used binary logistic regression to compare the pre-crime, crime, and post-crime behaviors of 870 cases of hybrid sexual assault that occurred during the commission of either a burglary (N = 319) (or) robbery (N = 479), both of which involved personal theft from a stranger victim.

FINDINGS suggest that the crime commission process of sexual burglary involves a more sophisticated modus operandi and greater expertise in detection avoidance (e.g., strategies to protect their identity and destroying and removing evidence) compared to sexual robbery.

Language: en

Keywords

offending; decision making; criminal behavior; sexual offenders; sexual violence