Types of Crime - Robbery

The FBI defines robbery as "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 by putting the victim in fear." Robbery is a particularly threatening crime; its thousands of victims each year suffer psychological and physical trauma, and even non-victims experience anxiety from the fear of robbery. This fear can cause people to change their lives in ways destructive to social life and the sense of community, especially in urban areas.

Robbery is the only one of the seven traditional FBI Index crimes that is both a property crime and a violent crime. It shares with other crimes of property the primary motivation of acquiring money and the likelihood that the perpetrators do not know their victims. Robbery shares with other types of violent crime a relatively high probability of victim injury or death.

An estimated 420,637 robberies were reported during 2002, less than one percent fewer than in 2001. (See Table 2.1.) The number of robberies declined by 5.9 percent compared to the 1998 figures, and by 36.3 percent compared to 1993. Robbery represented 29.5 percent of the nation's violent crime in 2002.

In 2001 a bank robbery occurred on average every 52 minutes. According to Bank Crime Statistics (BCS) collected

TABLE 2.6
Murder circumstances, 1998–2002

Circumstances	1998	1999	2000	2001*	2002
Total	14,209	13,011	13,230	14,061	14,054
Felony type total:	2,510	2,215	2,229	2,364	2,314
Rape	62	47	58	61	43
Robbery	1,243	1,057	1,077	1,080	1,092
Burglary	92	81	76	80	96
Larceny-theft	17	14	23	17	15
Motor vehicle theft	15	12	25	22	16
Arson	83	66	81	71	59
Prostitution and commercialized vice	15	8	6	5	8
Other sex offenses	20	19	10	7	8
Narcotic drug laws	682	581	589	575	657
Gambling	12	17	12	3	5
Other—not specified	269	313	272	443	315
Suspected felony type	104	65	60	72	67
Other than felony type total:	7,203	6,880	6,871	7,073	7,097
Romantic triangle	187	137	122	118	130
Child killed by babysitter	23	34	30	37	38
Brawl due to influence of alcohol	211	203	188	152	153
Brawl due to influence of narcotics	117	127	99	118	84
Argument over money or property	241	213	206	198	203
Other arguments	4,115	3,471	3,589	3,618	3,527
Gangland killings	73	122	65	76	73
Juvenile gang killings	625	580	653	862	911
Institutional killings	15	13	10	8	12
Sniper attack	16	5	8	7	11
Other—not specified	1,580	1,975	1,901	1,879	1,955
Unknown	4,392	3,851	4,070	4,552	4,576
* The murder and nonnegligent homicides that occurred as a result of the events of September 11, 2001, are not included.
SOURCE: "Table 2.14: Murder Circumstances, 1998–2002," in Crime in the United States 2002, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, DC, 2003

by the Violent Crimes/Fugitive Unit of the FBI, there were 8,516 bank robberies in 2001, up from 7,310 in 2000. These figures vary from those collected by the UCS, which reported 10,150 bank robberies in 2001 and 8,565 in 2000. Between 1990 and 2001 the number of bank robberies, using BCS data, has fluctuated from a high of 9,540 in 1992 to a low of 6,813 in 1999. (See Figure 2.2.) Most bank robbers between 1996 and 2000 were male (2,962 compared to 204 females) and most (831) were between 18 and 24 years old. (See Table 2.11.) Almost 58 percent of bank robberies were cleared by arrest in 2001.

Rate

The robbery rate in 2002 was 145.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, a 1.7 percent decrease from 2001. The rate represents a decrease of 11.8 percent compared to 1998, and of 43.0 percent compared to 1993. (See Table 2.1.)

Robbery is largely a big-city crime. Of 420,637 total robberies reported by law enforcement agencies nationwide in 2002, some 401,140 occurred in metropolitan areas—a rate of 173.4 per 100,000 people. By comparison, the rate of robberies in cities outside metropolitan

TABLE 2.7
Murder victims, by age and weapon used, 2002

		Weapons
Age	Total murder victims	Firearms	Knives or cutting instruments	Blunt (clubs, hammers, objects etc.)	Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.)1	Poison	Explosives	Fire	Narcotics	Strangulation	Asphyxiation	Other weapon or weapon not stated2
Total	14,054	9,369	1,767	666	933	23	11	104	48	143	103	887
Percent distribution3	100.0	66.7	12.6	4.7	6.6	0.2	0.1	0.7	0.3	1.0	0.7	6.3
Under 184	1,357	661	90	52	299	5	5	21	11	16	41	156
Under 224	3,398	2,358	256	94	345	6	5	29	14	23	47	221
18 and over4	12,406	8,568	1,646	595	607	18	6	76	36	125	58	671
Infant (under 1)	180	9	4	12	91	0	1	0	3	0	19	41
1 to 4	328	45	10	19	166	2	1	7	3	2	12	61
5 to 8	86	26	14	2	11	2	2	7	1	2	7	12
9 to 12	92	56	11	2	4	1	0	2	0	3	0	13
13 to 16	390	299	30	11	17	0	0	5	3	6	2	17
17 to 19	1,184	972	101	23	32	1	1	3	4	6	3	38
20 to 24	2,756	2,244	250	55	72	0	3	9	7	7	5	104
25 to 29	2,059	1,628	227	42	56	0	0	11	2	16	7	70
30 to 34	1,587	1,168	197	45	57	0	2	14	5	15	4	80
35 to 39	1,337	864	193	74	78	2	0	7	5	25	11	78
40 to 44	1,137	663	221	63	84	3	1	9	1	13	8	71
45 to 49	856	461	151	80	74	0	0	8	1	15	3	63
50 to 54	566	312	101	48	50	2	0	3	2	3	1	44
55 to 59	353	172	66	46	23	0	0	1	0	7	2	36
60 to 64	245	107	41	37	16	0	0	7	1	7	4	25
65 to 69	162	67	27	20	15	1	0	0	3	5	5	19
70 to 74	156	53	35	28	14	0	0	0	0	6	2	18
75 and over	289	83	57	40	46	9	0	4	6	3	4	37
Unknown	291	140	31	19	27	0	0	7	1	2	4	60
1Pushed is included in personal weapons.
2Includes drowning.
3Because of rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0.
4Does not include unknown ages.
SOURCE: "Table 2.11: Murder Victims by Age, by Weapon, 2002," in Crime in the United States 2002, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Washington, DC, 2003

areas was 61.2 per 100,000 people, and the rate was 16.7 in rural counties. (See Table 1.2 in Chapter 1.)

Average Losses

The UCR for 2002 estimates that over $539 million was stolen from robbery victims in 2002. The average value of items stolen during a robbery was estimated at $1,281 per incident. Average dollar losses in 2002 ranged from $4,763 for a bank robbery to $665 for a convenience-store robbery. Nearly half (42.8 percent) of robberies occurred on the streets or highways. Robberies of commercial establishments accounted for an additional 14.6 percent and those occurring at residences, 13.5 percent. (See Table 1.8 in Chapter 1.)

The impact of robbery on its victims cannot be measured simply in terms of monetary loss. While the intention of a robber is to obtain money or property, the crime always involves the use or threat of force. Many victims suffer serious psychological and/or physical injury, sometimes even death. Firearms accounted for 42.1 percent of the weapons used in robberies in 2002. Strong-arm tactics (actual or threatened physical force) were used in 39.9 percent and knives or cutting instruments in 8.7 percent. (See Table 2.12.)

Arrests

In 2002 law authorities cleared about one-fourth (25.7 percent) of reported robbery offenses nationwide. Rural counties reported the highest clearance rate in 2002, at 41.4 percent, compared to 29.5 percent in suburban counties and 25.0 percent in cities. Of those arrested, 61.4 percent were under 25 years of age. (See Table 1.4 in Chapter 1.) Males comprised 89.7 percent of those arrested for robbery in 2002. Blacks accounted for 54.1 percent of arrestees for robbery, compared to 44.1 percent who were white. Of those cleared by arrest for robbery in 2002, 23.1 percent were juveniles under the age of 18. (See Table 1.7 in Chapter 1.)