Chapter Twelve:

1
Chapter Twelve

• Property Crimes

2
Objectives

• Be familiar with the history of theft offenses
• Recognize the differences between professional
  and amateur thieves
• Know the similarities and differences between the
  various types of larceny
• Understand the different forms of shoplifting
• Be able to discuss the concept of fraud
• Know what is meant by a confidence game
• Understand what is means to burgle a home
• Know what it takes to be a good burglar
• Understand the concept of arson

3
Contemporary Theft

• Occasional criminals are the ones who most
  often commit the crime, they do not define
  themselves by a criminal role or view themselves
  as committed career criminals
• Professional criminals theft offenders who are
  skilled, make a significant portion of their
  income from crime

4
The Professional Fence

• Earns his or her living solely by buying and
  reselling stolen merchandise
• They act as middlemen who purchase stolen
  merchandiseranging from diamonds to auto
  hubcaps and resale to merchants who market them
  to legitimate customers

5
Conditions of Successful Fencing

• Up-front cash
• Knowledge of dealinglearning the ropes
• Connections with suppliers of stolen goods
• Connections with buyers
• Complicity with law enforcers

6
The Occasional Fence

• A significant portion of all fencing is performed
  by amateur or occasion criminals
• Novice burglars such as juveniles and drug
  addicts
• Part-timers
• Associational fences
• Neighborhood hustlers
• Amateur receivers

7
Larceny/Theft

• Taking for ones own use the property of another,
  by means other than force or threats on the
  victim or forcibly breaking into a persons home
  or workplace
• Petty larceny involves small amounts of money
  or property and is punished as a misdemeanor
• Grand larceny involves money or property of
  greater value and is punished as a felony

8
Types of Larceny/Theft

• Shoplifting
• Bad checks
• Credit card theft
• Auto theft
• False pretenses or fraud
• Confidence games
• Embezzlement

9
Shoplifting

• The taking of goods from retail stores
• Boosters or heels a professional shoplifter who
  steals with the intention of reselling stolen
  merchandise
• Snitch an amateur shoplifter who does not
  self-identify as a thief but who systematically
  steals merchandise for personal use

10
Strategies for Controlling Shoplifting

• Merchant privilege laws legislation that
  protects retailers and their employees from
  lawsuits if they arrest and detain a suspected
  shoplifter on reasonable grounds
• Target removal strategy displaying dummy or
  disabled goods while the real merchandise is kept
  under lock and key
• Target hardening strategy locking goods in place
  or having them monitored by electronic systems

11
Bad Checks

• Naïve check forgers amateurs who cash bad checks
  because of some financial crisis but have little
  identification with a criminal subculture
• Systematic forgers professionals who make a
  living by passing bad checks

12
Credit Card Theft

• The use of stolen credit cards is a major problem
  in the U.S. society
• Most credit card abuse is the work of amateurs
• Some professional credit card rings are getting
  into this crime

13
Auto Theft

• Motor vehicle theft is another common larceny
  offense, auto theft can be divided into the
  following categories
• Joyriding
• Short-term transportation
• Long-term transportation
• Profit
• Commission of another crime

14
False Pretenses or Fraud

• Misrepresenting a fact in a way that causes a
  deceived victim to give money or property to the
  offender
• False pretenses differ from traditional larceny
  because the victims willingly give their
  possessions to the offender, and the crime does
  not involve a trespass in the taking

15
Confidence Games

• A swindle set up to separate victims from their
  money, many involving a get-rich-quick scheme,
  often with illegal overtones so that the victim
  will be afraid or embarrassed to call the police
• Some common confidence games include
• Reading obituaries, then sending surviving spouse
  a bill
• Posing as a bank employee
• Pyramid schemes
• Shady contractors
• False invoices for ads

16
Embezzlement

• A type of larceny in which someone who is trusted
  with property fraudulently converts it to his/her
  own use or for the use of others
• Most courts require that a serious breach of
  trust must have occurred before a person can be
  convicted

17
Burglary

• Any unlawful entering of a structure to commit
  theft or felony
• It includes forcible entry, unlawful entry where
  no force is used, and attempted forcible entry
• Those most likely to burglarized are relatively
  poor Latinos and African American families
• Because it involves planning, risk, and skill, it
  has been a crime long associated with
  professionals who know their craft

18
Careers in Burglary

• The good burglar, use this title to
  distinguish themselves, some of the
  characteristics include
• Technical competence
• Maintenance of personal integrity
• Specialization in burglary
• Financial success
• The ability to avoid prison sentences

19
Arson

• The willful, malicious burning of a home,
  building, vehicle, or commercial building
• Motives
• Severe emotional turmoil
• Disturbed personality
• Psychopathology
• Angry people looking for revenge
• Teenage vandalism
• Arson for profit and arson fraud
• To conceal another crime, such as embezzlement

20
The Juvenile Fire Starter

• Most prolific fire starter, may get involved in
  arson for a variety of reasons, associated with
  psychological abnormality, including depression,
  conduct problems, such as disobedience and
  aggressiveness, anger, hostility, and resentment
  over parental rejection

21
Juvenile Arsonists

• Juvenile arsonists can be classified in one of
  four categories
• The playing with matches fire setter
• The crying for help fire setter
• The delinquent fire setter
• The severely disturbed