Product Description

One of the most feared crimes among urban dwellers, armed robbery poses a serious risk of injury or death, and presents daunting challenges for law enforcement. Yet little is known about the complex factors that motivate assailants who use a weapon to take property by force or threat of force.

Armed Robbers in Action is not like previous studies that focus on the often distorted accounts of incarcerated offenders. Richard T. Wright and Scott H. Decker conducted dangerous, life-threatening field research on the streets of St. Louis to obtain more forthright responses from robbers about their motives and methods. They also visited several crime scenes to examine how situational and spatial features of the setting contributed to the offense. Quoting extensively from their conversations with the offenders, the authors consider the circumstances underlying the decision to commit an armed robbery, explore how and why targets are chosen, and detail the various tactics used in a hold-up.

By analyzing the criminals' candid perspectives on their actions and their social environment, the authors provide a fuller understanding of armed robbery. They conclude with an insightful discussion of the implications of their findings for crime prevention policy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153419 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Richard T. Wright and Scott H. Decker are both Professors of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri--St. Louis. They are co-authors of Burglars on the Job: Streetlife and Residential Break-ins, winner of the 1995 SSSP Crime and Delinquency Outstanding Scholarship Award. Neal Shover is Professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is the author of Aging Criminals and Great Pretenders: Pursuits and Careers of Persistent Thieves.

Customer Reviews

All that and a bag of chips
This is first rate ethnography that is well-written, insightful, and entertaining. Yes, I said entertaining, as in a good read. Fascinating book that will really make you think about what lies behind criminal decision-making . . . highly recommend it.

You Can Not Make This Stuff Up
This is an excellent piece of qualitative research and I use it as an example in my research class. As other writers have noted this book is entertaining and fun. Also, it demonstrates how a researcher uses snowball sampling to find individuals who may otherwise be reluctant to admit to others that they are engaging in some kind of behavior which society considers immoral or which is outright illegal. Research does not have to be dull and good qualitative research reads as well as the best fiction.

Laughed my ass off and then thought about it.
I spent three years being bored to points beyond death in law school, but this book was something all together different. The fact that it was written at all is impressive. You read about the inner city in the papers, but this book takes you there, and not just into the slum, but into the heads of the dregs of society. The logic expressed by the subjects of this book is so radically foreign to those of us in textbook America. Take a chance and look into the underclass. Oops, I used the class-word. I know we don't have those in this country, but this book may make you think. I only wish Pat Buchanan could meet some of these guys.