Chapter 21: Personal and Institutional Robbery Part 1

Question 1

What is robbery?

Answer 1

the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or putting the victim in fear

Question 2

What are the subcategories of robbery?

Answer 2

(1) location of the robbery
(2) type of weapon
(3) type of victim
(4) institutional robberies

Question 3

When using police data to estimate the prevalence and nature of robbery, what are the sources of definitional ambiguity that need to be considered?

Answer 3

(1) What constitutes a “threat” or “attempted” robbery is subject to diverse interpretation
(2) Variability in how particular police officers and departments make distinction between various types of personal robberies and other types of larceny/theft
(3) The hierarchical rule used in the recording of UCR incidents, counting only the most serious offense in a criminal incident

Question 4

What establishments specifically have a long history of targets for robbery?

Answer 4

Banks

Question 5

Some acts of _________ are another type of robbery situation.

Answer 5

extortion

Question 6

The robbery rate in 2011 represents the lowest rate in the U.S. since the mid ______s.

Answer 6

1960s

Question 7

Both UCR data on robbery _______ rates and NCVS data on robbery ___________ rates show a similar pattern of reductions in robbery rates over the last two decades.

Answer 7

offense

victimization

Question 8

Far less than 2% of U.S. households are “touched” by a ________ each year

Answer 8

robbery

Question 9

cities in ______ ___________ areas have substantially higher robbery rates than cities outside these areas and those in non metropolitan counties

Answer 9

large metropolitan

Question 10

Which region of the U.S. has the highest number of robberies?

Answer 10

South has the highest number of robberies

Question 11

Which region of the U.S. has the highest rate of robbery?

Answer 11

Northeast has the highest rate of robbery

Question 12

What are the characteristics of the average robber?

Answer 12

(1) males
(2) under 25 years old
(3) African Americans

Question 13

_____ are arrested offenders in about 88% of all robberies known to the police

Answer 13

males

Question 14

males are arrested offenders in about 88% of all _________ known to the police

Answer 14

robberies

Question 15

___% of robbery arrestees are under 25 years old.

Answer 15

63%

Question 16

56% of arrestees for robbery are _______-_________

Answer 16

African-Americans

Question 17

The vast majority of _______ defendants had a prior felony arrest

Answer 17

robbery

Question 18

_______ are more likely to have a prior felony record than murders, rapists, and aggravated assaulters.

Answer 18

Robbers

Question 19

What is the modus operandi, of street-level muggers and many carjackings?

Answer 19

primarily opportunistic criminals who become motivated by immediate situational cues

Question 20

What is the modus operandi of bank robberies and other type of institutional robberies?

Answer 20

planning and calculation, involves making a series of decisions before engaging in robbery about

Question 21

What is the planning process for bank robbers and other institutional robberies?

Answer 21

(1) when and where to commit the crime
(2) the type of targets to select
(3) planning ways to subdue the victim
(4) the type of weapon that will be used or threatened
(5) how to conceal one’s identity and avoid detection on video surveillance
(6) some contemplation about alternative escape routes if the original plans run amuck

Question 22

What are the characteristics for attractive institutional and bank robberies?

Answer 22

(1) high visibility and high accessibility
(2) low protection or guardianship
(3) high portability and liquidity of the stolen goods

Question 23

Which gender has a higher risk of robbery victimization?

Answer 23

men

Question 24

Why do men have a higher risk of robbery victimization than women?

Answer 24

(1) for both completed and attempted robberies

(2) for both robberies with and without victim injury

Question 25

Robbery victimization risks are highest for what age group?

Answer 25

21-24 years olds

Question 26

Robbery victimization risks are the lowest for what age group?

Answer 26

65 or older

Question 27

The risks of robbery victimization are nearly twice as high for ______ than Whites

Answer 27

Blacks

Question 28

Robbery rates are about also slightly higher for __________ than non-Hispanics

Answer 28

Hispanics

Question 29

_________ were the offenders in 75% of all personal robberies and in a higher proportion of those were _________ (86%) than __________ (71%)

Answer 29

Strangers
attempted
completed

Question 30

Why is “strange danger” in robbery overestimated?

Answer 30

(1) forcible thefts involving family members or ex-partners are often considered “private matters” and not typically reported/recorded in either NCVS or UCR data
(2) many street robberies of persons engaged in illegal activities are not typically reported to the police and these types of people are rarely included in victimization surveys

Question 31

The majority of personal robberies involve ____-________, a majority of institutional or business robberies are _________.

Answer 31

non-strangers

strangers

Question 32

What other victim attributes are associated with the risks of robbery victimization?

Answer 32

(1) people who have never married have greater robbery risks than other types of marital status
(2) as family income increases, the risks of personal robbery decrease

Question 33

What are the offense and situational attributes characteristics of robbery?

Answer 33

(1) the location or target
(2) weapon use
(3) the monetary yield or “take” from the crime
(4) the likelihood of victim injury
(5) patterns of victim self-protection during the incident

Question 34

What is the most common location for robbery?

Answer 34

the street or highway

Question 35

What percentage of these robberies occur in these locations?

Answer 35

about 44%

Question 36

What region do these types of robberies occur in most frequently?

Answer 36

Northeast (58%)

Question 37

What area is most common for street muggings?

Answer 37

most prevalent in large metropolitan areas than in small cities and rural areas

Question 38

What percentage of robberies are residential robberies (i.e. violent home invasions)?

Answer 38

17%

Question 39

What is the percentage per region of residential robberies type of robberies occur?

Answer 39

23% occur in the South

11% occur in the West and Northeast

Question 40

What percentage of robberies are at service stations and convenience stores?

Answer 40

about 7%

Question 41

What percentage of robberies are involved at banks and other financial institutions?

Answer 41

about 2%

Question 42

Over 53% of the robberies in large metropolitan areas are ______ ________

Answer 42

street muggings

Question 43

Robberies of convenience stores and serve stations tend to be relatively more common in _____ ______ and _____ areas

Answer 43

small cities

rural

Question 44

What is the percentage of weapons used during robberies?

Answer 44

firearms- 43%
“strong arm” methods- 41%
knives and other cutting objects- 8%
other “dangerous weapons”- 8%

Question 45

Which type of weapon is most common in institutional/business robberies?

Answer 45

firearms

Question 46

What are “strong arm” methods?

Answer 46

using one’s physical size and strength to subdue or threaten the victim

Question 47

“Strong arm” methods are most prominent in what type of robberies?

Answer 47

street mugging