Robbers and the People They Prey Upon
Completed robberies are face-to-face confrontations in which perpetrators take something of value directly from victims against their will, either by force or by threats of violence. Whether the holdup is completed or just attempted, the law considers armed robberies more serious than unarmed ones (strong-arm robberies, muggings, or yokings).
Robberies: Who, How Often, How, Where, When
Because nearly all robbery victims live to tell about their experiences, more details can be gath- ered about them than about people who were murdered. Some limited information about rob- beries that were reported to and solved by local police departments appears annually in the FBI’s UCR.The data indicates the number of incidents and describe the people who were arrested—but not the people who were accosted. The NCVS— not the UCR—is the source to tap to find out “how often, who, how, where, when,” plus information concerning losses, injuries, stolen property recovery rates, and reactions during the confrontations (Harlow, 1987).
Respondents in the sample who confided that they had been robbed within the past six months provided NCVS interviewers with a wealth of data. They described the assailants who robbed them and the weapons used against them, and they disclosed whether the robbers got what they were after, where and when the crimes took place, if they resisted, whether they got hurt, and if so, how seriously. The answers from these unfortunate indivi- duals in the sample were used to derive projections about the experiences of all Americans over the age of 11 who were robbed. To simplify matters, only single-victim/single-offender incidents will be analyzed (Harrell, 2005; 2007).
Nearly 370,000 people were robbed during 2013, according to projections derived from the NCVS sample. That translated to a rate of a little more than 2 per 1,000 persons over the age of 11. In a little more than half of the face-to-face confron- tations, the robbers were unarmed, but in 17 percent they brandished a firearm (almost always a handgun) and in 14 percent they pulled out a knife. Almost 45 percent of the victims (but especially the males) said the offenders were complete strangers, but a surpris- ing proportion, 17 percent (almost exclusively the female victims), characterized the robber as an “intimate” and another 11 percent recognized the offender as a relative. Most of the rest (22 percent) were described as acquaintances, either casual or even well-known. Over 67 percent of the indivi- duals who were robbed that year informed the police about their harrowing experiences, according to the BJS analysis tool customized report (BJS, 2014).
The primary motive behind robbery is theft. But offenders did not always get what they wanted. About one-quarter (27 percent) of robberies ended up as unsuccessful attempts to steal cash and valu- ables. The typical victim lost about $150. Most often, they were relieved of personal effects such as portable electronic or photographic gear, and jewelry, followed by purses and wallets containing credit cards and cash. Most robbery victims never recovered any of these valuables on their own or after an investigation by the police in 2008, the last year that such detailed analyses were available (NCVS, 2011).
A CL OSE R LOOK AT T H E V I C T IMS OF IN T ERP E RSO N AL C R IME S OF V IOL E N C E AN D T H E FT 107
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Robbers, armed or not, hurt their victims for a number of reasons. They may do so initially to intimidate the target into submission. They may become violent during the holdup in reaction to resistance, lack of cooperation, or stalling. Offen- ders may relish taking advantage of a helpless per- son or may seize the opportunity to show off to accomplices. Injuring their targets may be a sign of panic, disappointment in the haul, anger, scorn, contempt, sadism, or loss of self-control. Unleash- ing violence may also be instrumental: Wounding individuals can render them incapable of later identifying the robbers, pursuing them, or even calling for help. Explosive outbursts at the end of the transaction may be intended to shock, stun, or preoccupy victims, their associates, and any bystanders so that they will hesitate to sum- mon the police.
Despite all these possible motives for inflict- ing injuries, most robbers didn’t wound their victims. Only a little more than one-third (37 percent) of those who suffered either completed or attempted robberies were wounded. How- ever, some who escaped injuries were grabbed, shoved, and otherwise roughed up. Among the wounded, most victims experienced minor inju- ries, such as cuts, scratches, bruises, and swel- lings. A small proportion suffered serious injuries, such as broken bones, lost teeth, loss of consciousness, or gunshot wounds that required medical care in a hospital emergency room. About 8 percent of robbery victims in 2008 incurred medical expenses, usually from visiting a hospital emergency room (BJS, 2011). Similarly, in 2013 about 40 percent of the people who were accosted told interviewers they were injured in the incident, but most of them (62 percent) did not need any medical treatment for their wounds, according to the customized table generated by the BJS analysis tool.