Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear; that is, it is a larceny or theft accomplished by an assault. Precise definitions of the offence may vary between jurisdictions. Robbery is differentiated from other forms of theft (such as burglary, shoplifting, pickpocketing, or car theft) by its inherently violent nature (a violent crime); whereas many lesser forms of theft are punished as misdemeanors, robbery is always a felony in jurisdictions that distinguish between the two. Under English law, most forms of theft are triable either way, whereas robbery is triable only on indictment.
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Etymology
The word "rob" came via French from Late Latin words (e.g., deraubare) of Germanic origin, from Common Germanic raub "theft".
Types of robbery
Among the types of robbery are armed robbery, which involves the use of a weapon, and aggravated robbery, when someone brings with them a deadly weapon or something that appears to be a deadly weapon. Highway robbery or mugging takes place outside or in a public place such as a sidewalk, street, or parking lot. Carjacking is the act of stealing a car from a victim by force.
Criminal slang for various kinds of robbery includes "blagging" (armed robbery, usually of a bank), "stickup" (derived from the verbal command "Stick 'em up!" to robbery targets to raise their hands in the air), and "steaming" (organized robbery; originally referred to robbery of trains); see Wiktionary:robbery for more.
By country
Canada
In Canada, the Criminal Code makes robbery an indictable offence, subject to a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. If the accused uses a restricted or prohibited firearm to commit robbery, there is a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for the first offence, and seven years for subsequent offences.
Ireland
Robbery is a statutory offence in Ireland. It is created by section 14(1) of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001, which provides:
A person is guilty of robbery if he or she steals, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force.
United Kingdom
Robbery is a statutory offence created by section 8(1) of the Theft Act 1968, which reads:
A person is guilty of robbery if he steals, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force.
Robbery is the only offence of aggravated theft.
There are no offences of aggravated robbery.
This requires evidence to show a theft as set out in section 1(1) of the Theft Act 1968. In R v Robinson the defendant threatened the victim with a knife in order to recover money which he was actually owed. His conviction for robbery was quashed on the basis that Robinson had an honest, although unreasonable, belief (under Section 2(1)(a) of the Act) in his legal right to the money. See also R v Skivington [1968] 1 QB 166, [1967] 2 WLR 655, 131 JP 265, 111 SJ 72, [1967] 1 All ER 483, 51 Cr App R 167, CA.
In R v Hale (1978) the application of force and the stealing took place in many different locations, and it was not possible to establish the timing; it was held that the appropriation necessary to prove theft was a continuing act, and the jury could correctly convict of robbery. This approach was followed in R v Lockley (1995) when the force was applied to a shopkeeper after property had been taken. It was argued that the theft should be regarded as complete by this time, and R v Gomez (1993), should apply; the court disagreed, preferring to follow R v Hale.
The threat or use of force must take place immediately before or at the time of the theft. Force used after the theft is complete will not turn the theft into a robbery.
The words "or immediately after" that appeared in section 23(1)(b) of the Larceny Act 1916 were deliberately omitted from section 8(1).
The book Archbold said that the facts in R v Harman, which did not amount to robbery in 1620, would not amount to robbery now.
United States
In the United States, robbery is generally treated as an aggravated form of common-law larceny. Specific elements and definitions differ from state to state. The common elements of robbery are
a trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to steal from the person or presence of the victim by force or threat of force.
The first six elements are the same as common-law larceny. It is the last two elements that aggravate the crime to common-law robbery.
from the person or presence of the victim – robbery requires that the property be taken directly from the person of the victim or from their presence. This is different from larceny, which simply requires that property be taken from the victim's possession, actual or constructive. Property is "on the victim's person" if the victim is actually holding the property, or the property is contained within clothing the victim is wearing or is attached to a victim's body, such as a watch or earrings. Property is in a person's presence when it is within the area of their immediate control. The property has to be close enough to the victim's person that the victim could have prevented its taking if he/she had not been placed in fear or intimidation.
by force or threat of force – the use of force or threat of force is the defining element of robbery. For there to be robbery there must be "force or fear" in perpetrating the theft. Questions concerning the degree of force necessary for robbery have been the subject of much litigation. Merely snatching the property from the victim's person is not sufficient force unless the victim resists or one of the items is attached or carried in such a way that a significant amount of force must be used to free the item from the victim's person.
For robbery the victim must be placed in "fear" of immediate harm by threat or intimidation. The threat need not be directed at the victim personally. Threats to third parties are sufficient. The threat must be one of present rather than future personal harm. Fear does not mean "fright", it means apprehension – an awareness of the danger of immediate bodily harm.
Robbery statistics
Reported robberies
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime notes "that when using the figures, any cross-national comparisons should be conducted with caution because of the differences that exist between the legal definitions of offences in countries, or the different methods of offence counting and recording". Also, not every crime is reported, meaning two things: (1) robbery rates appear lower than they actually are, and (2) the percentage of crime that is not reported is higher in some countries than others; for example, in one country 86% of the robberies were reported, whereas in another country only 67% of the robberies were reported. Crime also varies by certain neighborhoods or areas in each country, so a nationwide rate does not indicate the danger or safety everywhere in that country. A 1983 study by the Department of Justice estimated that the amount of robberies in the US at schools alone may reach one million a year, exceeding the National Crime Survey reported estimate.
Prevalence
The below table shows the percentage of population which was victim to robbery in the previous 12 months according to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, typically through statistical surveys to avoid under-reporting.
