This article provides a description of trends and patterns in robbery using police statistics and statistics from crime surveys. The focus is on data of robbery rate trends for the United States, which is the most established of the national crime surveys. The survey data support a fine-grained analysis of the age, sex, race, and number of robbers and victims involved in an incident, as well as the type of weapon and the outcomes of the confrontation with respect to theft and injury. It examines the demographics of robber perpetration and victimization and robbery outcomes (property loss,...

This article provides a description of trends and patterns in robbery using police statistics and statistics from crime surveys. The focus is on data of robbery rate trends for the United States, which is the most established of the national crime surveys. The survey data support a fine-grained analysis of the age, sex, race, and number of robbers and victims involved in an incident, as well as the type of weapon and the outcomes of the confrontation with respect to theft and injury. It examines the demographics of robber perpetration and victimization and robbery outcomes (property loss, injury, and death). This article discusses robbers' strategic choices about whom to rob, how, and with what weapon and interventions aimed at preventing robberies. Policies to reduce the scope of the underground market will thus be helpful in the effort to curtail robbery.