NCJ Number
96337
Date Published
1982
Length
28 pages
Annotation
A total of 1,027 robbery offenses were located from the 1958 Philadelphia birth cohort study of delinquency probabilities to examine three major variables: intimidation or threats associated with the robbers; victim response, including resistance; and degree of victim injury.
Abstract
Of the 1,027 offenses, 258 were listed as attempts. It was hypothesized that if a victim puts up some form of resistance to the robbery, there is a greater likelihood of an incomplete robbery. In 404 (40 percent) of the offenses, there was some victim resistance. Only 14 percent of nonresistant robberies were incomplete; 42 percent of resisted ones were incomplete. Among attempted robberies, two-thirds were resisted by the intended victim; among completed acts, over two-thirds of the victims offered resistance. The single/multiple offender dichotomy showed no relationship to attempted versus completed acts. The success rate was unaffected by the presence of a weapon. The hypothesis relating incomplete robberies to victim resistance was thus confirmed. A victim of an attempted robbery was much more likely to be assaulted than a victim of a completed robbery, however. The victim of an attempted robbery was twice as likely as the victim of a completed robberty to require medical attention or be hospitalized. An examination of offender and victim ages in association with robbery dynamics showed that severe injuries increased monotonically with offender age from 13 to 17. The greatest resistance was exerted by victims 18-29 years old. So long as avoidance of physical injury has a higher value than protection of property, the victim should offer no resistance, whatever the form of intimidation. Extensive tabular data from the study are provided.