NCJ Number
144757
Date Published
1992
Length
149 pages
Annotation
Three studies examined various aspects of violent crime in convenience stores. According to the FBI's 1990 Uniform Crime Report, robbery in convenience stores accounted for 6.1 percent of all robberies; in that year, convenience store robberies increased at the lowest rate of all types of robbery.
Abstract
The three studies presented here include the 1991 National Survey of Convenience Store Crime and Security; Convenience Store Homicide and Rape; and An Assessment of Robbery Deterrence Measures at Convenience Stores: Multiple Clerk Staffing, Central Station Based Interactive Television, and Bullet-Resistant Barriers. The findings of these studies indicated that 79 percent of U.S. convenience stores did not experience any robberies in 1991; 65 percent of all robberies were confined to 6.5 percent of all convenience stores. Eighty percent of convenience store homicides were classified as acquaintance-based or random. Overall, there was no significant effect of having two clerks in the store, as compared to one clerk, in terms of reducing the robbery rate. Furthermore, closed-circuit television did not have a consistent or dramatic influence on crime reduction. Chapter references