Temptations, techniques and typologies: Insights from a Western Australian sample of young people who burgle

Authors

Suzanne Rock, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Natalie J. Gately, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
James McCue, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Nathalie St Martin

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Youth Justice

Publisher

SAGE

School

School of Arts and Humanities

RAS ID

52380

Funders

Western Australian Police Force / Edith Cowan University

Comments

This is an Author Accepted Manuscript version of an article published by SAGE in Youth Justice, on October 5th 2022.

Rock, S., Gately, N., McCue, J., & St Martin, N. (2022). Temptations, techniques and typologies: Insights from Western Australian sample of young people who burgle. Youth Justice, 23(3), 311-331. Copyright © 2022 (SAGE). https://doi.org/10.1177/14732254221122617

Abstract

A significant amount of property crime is committed by young people. In this novel qualitative study, 50 young people were interviewed to obtain an insight into their motivations to burgle. Decisions were based on peer pressure, opportunity and perceived need. Bennett and Wright’s typologies of adult burglars were applied to young burglars. Young burglars were more prone than adults in Bennett and Wright’s study to commit opportunistic burglaries, but were deterred by similar target characteristics. The social and psychological factors are strong motivators for youth burglary and should guide the development of intervention and deterrence strategies.

DOI

10.1177/14732254221122617

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.