Residential Burglary: How the Urban Environment and Our Lifestyles Play a Contributing Role

Synopsis

This updated and expanded new edition continues its unique approach and engrossing exploration of the elements of residential burglary. Presented in five parts, the first is concerned with what is on a burglar’s mind when he or she considers whether to commit a burglary and which house to choose. The second part is concerned with time and the opportunities and limits it places on both burglar and victim, while the third section probes how burglaries are fit into space and the importance of perception of space in the burglary process. The fourth section describes how burglars select a home to burglarize and uses Greenwich, Connecticut as a model to contrast target and nontarget homes. The fifth part reviews some of the “nuts and bolts” techniques and reasons for their use as described by burglars and addresses elements about housing architecture, the burglary process, and offers suggestions for controlling the problem of burglary. It concludes with a discussion of changes in our lifestyles and communities and how these changes will play out in future patterns of residential burglary. The authors draw on in-depth interviews with admitted burglars, and the inclusion of the ideas and actual words of the burglars brings the material to life. The text continues to offer the most unique overview of residential burglary. It combines ethnographic research with study of official records and combines the strengths of both approaches.