Gender, Motivation and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery in the United Kingdom

• NCJ Number: 221058
• Journal: British Journal of Criminology Volume: 47 Issue: 6 Dated: November 2007 Pages: 861-884
• Author(s): Fiona Brookman; Christopher Mullins; Trevor Bennett; Richard Wright
• Date Published: November 2007
• Length: 24 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Based on open-ended interviews with incarcerated male and female offenders in the United Kingdom, this study explored the ways in which gender shaped the motivation and enactment of street robbery.

Abstract

The study found that male and female robbers indicated similar motives for robbery, i.e., to obtain money for drugs and the purchase of items that gave them status within their street world. These motives for robbery parallel those found in studies in the United States, suggesting a cultural similarity between nations and the effects of "deindustrialization," which has produced concentrated economic disadvantage linked to similar criminal subcultures. This study found no significant association between race/ethnicity and motivation for robbery. Regarding the methods used to commit robbery, the men generally used violence or the threat of violence in order to gain the victim's compliance. Unlike robbery encounters in the United States in which the brandishing of a firearm is central to the establishment of control over the victim, in this British study the robbers' possession of a weapon was often suggested without any visible display. Both male and female robbers mentioned using artifacts (e.g., pieces of metal) to make victims believe they had a weapon when they were actually unarmed. The men drew largely upon intimidation and the threat of physical force in their robberies. Compared with similar studies in the United States, the British female robbers were more likely to target men, perhaps because men in the United Kingdom are less likely to carry guns than in the United States. Twenty-four women inmates and 31 male inmates in 6 British prisons who had committed robberies in the course of their criminal careers were interviewed for this study. The interviews resulted in details of 75 separate robberies (40 reported by men and 35 by women). 55 references