Multidimensional Latent Classification of ‘Street Robbery’ Offences
Author
Goodwill, Alasdair
Stephens, Skye
Oziel, Sandra
Yapp, Jamie
Bowes, Nicola
Date
2012Type
Article
Publisher
Wiley
ISSN
1544-4759
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In a recent study of personal robbery, commissioned by the Home Office in the UK, a
qualitative typology of robbery offences was proposed based on the approach used by
the offender to commit the crime, consisting of four approach types: Blitz, Confrontation,
Con, and Snatch. Conceptual inspection of the typology reveals that these proposed types
may be hypothetically demarcated as the product of two latent dimensions: interaction
(between the offender and the victim) and violence (used to threaten/harm the victim).
The current paper utilises crime scene information from 72 incarcerated male offenders
convicted of ‘street’ robbery to test this hypothesis. Convergent statistical analysis was utilised
to test the structure of Smith’s typology first using multidimensional scaling (MDS) and then
principal component analysis (PCA). MDS and PCA analyses provided convergent support
for the existence of the four robbery styles and the latent dimensions of interaction and
violence. Implications of Smith’s typological structure and latent behavioural dimensions on
the conceptualisation and classification of robbery offences are discussed within the existing
literature on ‘street’ robbery. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Journal/conference proceeding
Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling;
Citation
J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 9: 93–109 (2012)
Description
The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com
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