four - Robbery in Action
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2022
Summary
The title of this chapter deliberately harks back to Wright and Decker's (1997a) classic examination of armed robbers ‘in action’, because like them, we seek to use our conversations to account for offenders’ decision-making in relation to robbery, explore how and why targets are chosen, and detail the various tactics used in a robbery. While the term ‘robbery’ conjures up images of polished and professional gangsters doing ‘business’ (Hobbs, 1988, 1995), at times the crime can be rather perfunctory. This is particularly true at the very bottom end of the trade where most robberies are poorly planned, if planned at all, and mostly opportunistic, perpetrated against anyone from weekend drinkers and clubbers to young people who are out shopping alone. In Glasgow and West Scotland, robbery is so common that it is almost routine, but as the targets get harder, namely wholesale drug dealers at the middle and upper levels of the illicit drugs trade, then robberies become more sophisticated and involve greater preparation and resources.
Minor drug dealers become targets for robbery when they are seen to have hard currency on them, and when the circumstances are right, they can be easy pickings, with little repercussions. However, robbery at the lower level of the illicit drugs trade is not just about drugs and money, but status rewards and humiliating rivals and victims for thrills and ‘kicks’. This perhaps explains why one reoccurring theme from the interviews was that dealings at this level often caused the most trouble and were highly problematic. This was for a host of reasons consistent with the idea of ‘bounded rationality’ (Cornish and Clarke , 1986), including: offenders just starting out and having little practical experience; offenders not anticipating or considering all alternatives and all information; offenders not knowing or not trusting one another, with relationships, business partnerships, and interactions with other criminals still in the embryotic stages of development; and desperate actors taking unnecessary risks because they have nothing to lose.
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- Robbery in the Illegal Drugs TradeViolence and Vengeance, pp. 60 - 74Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2022