NCJ Number
108118
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 78 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1987) Pages: 357-376
Date Published
1987
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This article describes patterns of robbery violence, including demographic characteristics of robbers and their victims, their relationship to each other, type of weapon used, and the crime location.
Abstract
Available data permitted the calculation of robbery rates, robbery murder rates, and criminal homicide rates by weapon type in each of 43 large U.S. cities between 1976 and 1983. Robbery data were taken from the FBI's unpublished Return A files. Homicide rates were computed from the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Report files. Robbery and robbery murder are both typically committed by offenders who do not know their victims. Nonfelony homicides, on the other hand, are only rarely committed by strangers. Black offenders choose white victims in half of all robbery murders and in more than half of all robberies. In nonfelony homicides, however, such racial 'crossover' is rare. The age of robbery murder victims is considerably older than that of either robbery or nonfelony homicide victims. Armed robbery is far more likely to result in the victim's death than is an unarmed robbery. Robbery murder patterns indicate that killings are an intrinsic byproduct of robbery. This suggests that policies affecting robbery rates will also affect robbery murder rates. 5 tables and 45 footnotes.