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Traces of Occupancy and Its Effect upon Burglar’s Residential Target Selection

Received: 04 June 2013    Accepted:     Published: 30 June 2013
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Abstract

Burglary is a type of crime that happens most frequently to ordinary citizens, and its consequences may include financial damage as well as serious psychological repercussions. In South Korea, burglary cases constituted 16.1 per cent of the total crimes reported in 2011, thus calling for viable preventive measures to alleviate the on-going problem. In this study, the authors examined the main situational factors that played a crucial role in burglars’ decision making in selecting specific targets and executing their crime. The data collected from interviewing fifty-two burglary suspects detained at the Detention Centre at the Incheon Public Prosecutor’s Office in South Korea was analysed to assess different situational factors that were mainly considered by them. The results indicated that the burglary suspects were more influenced by possible cost than gain. Furthermore, occupancy of residence was the most important factor in the decision making process utilised by the suspects.

DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20130203.15
Published in Social Sciences (Volume 2, Issue 3, June 2013)
Page(s) 135-141
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Burglary, Decision Making, Traces of Occupancy, Situational Factor

References
[1] R. V. Clarke and T. Hope, "Coping with Burglary: Research Perspectives on Policy," Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff, 1984.
[2] M. Maguire and J. Kynch, "Public Perceptions and Victims’ Experiences of Victim Support: Findings from the 1998 British Crime Survey," London: Home Office, 2000.
[3] H. A. Scarr, "Patterns of Burglary," Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 1973.
[4] D. Walsh, "‘Victim selection procedures among economic criminals: the rational choice perspective’, in D. B. Cornish and R. V. Clarke (eds.), The Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending," New York: Springer-Verlag Inc, pp. 39-52, 1986.
[5] R. Garcia-Retamero and M. K. Dhami, "Take-the-best in expert-novice decision strategies for residential burglary," Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, vol. 16, pp. 163-169, 2009.
[6] S. Lee, "The Impact of Home Burglar Alarm Systems on Residential Burglaries," Ph.D. Thesis, The State University of New Jersey, New Jersey, 2008.
[7] W. Bernasco and P. Nieuwbeerta, "How Do Residential Burglars Select Target Areas?: A New Approach to the Analysis of Criminal Location Choice," British Journal of Criminology, vol. 45, pp. 296-315, 2005.
[8] I. Hearnden and C. Magill,"Decision-Making By House Burglars: Offenders’ Perspective (Vol. 249)," London: Home Office, 2004.
[9] A. M. Huberman and M. B. Miles, ‘Data management and analysis methods’, in N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds.), "Handbook of Qualitative Research," Newbury Park: Sage, pp.428-444, 2000.
[10] J. W. Creswell, "Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches" (3rd edition), New York: Sage Publication, Inc., 2008.
[11] Korea National Police Agency, "White Paper on Police," Seoul: Korea National Police Agency Printing Office, 2012.
[12] S. Johnson and K. Bowers, "Permeability and Burglary Risk: Are Cul-de-Sacs Safer?," Journal of Quantitative Criminology, vol. 26, pp. 89-111, 2010.
[13] National Institute of Justice, "NIJ Reports No. 287," Washington D.C.: National Institute of Justice, 2010.
[14] I. Waller and N. Okihiro, "Burglary: The Victim and the Public," Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978.
[15] T. A. Reppetto, "Residential Crime," Cambridge: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1974.
[16] T. Bennett and R. Wright, "Burglars on Burglary," Hants: Gower, 1984.
[17] M. Maguire and T. Bennett, "Burglary in a dwelling: The offence, the offender, and the victim, London: Heinemann, 1982
[18] R. T. Wright and S. H. Decker, "Burglars on the Job: Street Life and Residential Break-ins," Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1994.
Author Information
  • Dept. of Security Management, Kyonggi University, Suwon, South Korea

  • Dept. of Security Management, Kyonggi University, Suwon, South Korea

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  • APA Style

    Yongtae Chun, Ju-Lak Lee. (2013). Traces of Occupancy and Its Effect upon Burglar’s Residential Target Selection. Social Sciences, 2(3), 135-141. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20130203.15

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    ACS Style

    Yongtae Chun; Ju-Lak Lee. Traces of Occupancy and Its Effect upon Burglar’s Residential Target Selection. Soc. Sci. 2013, 2(3), 135-141. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20130203.15

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    AMA Style

    Yongtae Chun, Ju-Lak Lee. Traces of Occupancy and Its Effect upon Burglar’s Residential Target Selection. Soc Sci. 2013;2(3):135-141. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20130203.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20130203.15,
      author = {Yongtae Chun and Ju-Lak Lee},
      title = {Traces of Occupancy and Its Effect upon Burglar’s Residential Target Selection},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {2},
      number = {3},
      pages = {135-141},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20130203.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20130203.15},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20130203.15},
      abstract = {Burglary is a type of crime that happens most frequently to ordinary citizens, and its consequences may include financial damage as well as serious psychological repercussions. In South Korea, burglary cases constituted 16.1 per cent of the total crimes reported in 2011, thus calling for viable preventive measures to alleviate the on-going problem. In this study, the authors examined the main situational factors that played a crucial role in burglars’ decision making in selecting specific targets and executing their crime. The data collected from interviewing fifty-two burglary suspects detained at the Detention Centre at the Incheon Public Prosecutor’s Office in South Korea was analysed to assess different situational factors that were mainly considered by them. The results indicated that the burglary suspects were more influenced by possible cost than gain. Furthermore, occupancy of residence was the most important factor in the decision making process utilised by the suspects.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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    T1  - Traces of Occupancy and Its Effect upon Burglar’s Residential Target Selection
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    AU  - Ju-Lak Lee
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    AB  - Burglary is a type of crime that happens most frequently to ordinary citizens, and its consequences may include financial damage as well as serious psychological repercussions. In South Korea, burglary cases constituted 16.1 per cent of the total crimes reported in 2011, thus calling for viable preventive measures to alleviate the on-going problem. In this study, the authors examined the main situational factors that played a crucial role in burglars’ decision making in selecting specific targets and executing their crime. The data collected from interviewing fifty-two burglary suspects detained at the Detention Centre at the Incheon Public Prosecutor’s Office in South Korea was analysed to assess different situational factors that were mainly considered by them. The results indicated that the burglary suspects were more influenced by possible cost than gain. Furthermore, occupancy of residence was the most important factor in the decision making process utilised by the suspects.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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