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Journal Article 12.1: McCluskey, J. D. (2013, April). A comparison of robbers’ use of physical coercion in commercial and street robberies. Crime & Delinquency, 59(3), 419-442.

Abstract: The face-to-face confrontation involved in the crime of robbery renders vast amounts of financial, physical, and psychological injury in the United States. This study developed hypotheses from existing literature regarding salient situational factors associated with the prevalence of overt physical coercion during commercial and street robberies. The study examined the effect of situational and personal characteristics on robbers’ use of coercion, with data coded from police reports of 1,281 street and commercial robberies in one precinct of Detroit, Michigan, between 2000 and 2003. The research results are relatively consistent with findings from the literature on robbery in the last 40 years: Street robberies involve a greater prevalence of physical force than do commercial robberies; guns reduce the likelihood of physical force; and victim resistance increases physical force. Additionally, characteristics of victims and offenders play a secondary role in predicting whether physical coercion is brought to bear on the victims of robbery.

Journal Article 12.2: Bernasco, W., & Block, R. (2011, February). Robberies in Chicago: A block-level analysis of the influence of crime generators, crime attractors, and offender anchor points. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 48(1), 33-57.

Abstract: The effects of crime generators, crime attractors, and offender anchor points on the distribution of street robberies across the nearly 25,000 census blocks of Chicago are examined. The analysis includes a wide array of activities and facilities that are expected to attract criminals and generate crime. These include a variety of legal and illegal businesses and infrastructural accessibility facilitators. In addition to these crime attractors and generators, the role of the presence of motivated offenders’ anchor points, as measured by offenders’ residence and gang activity, is assessed. The analysis also includes crime attractors, crime generators, and offender anchor points in adjacent census blocks. The findings demonstrate the strength of the effects of crime generators and attractors and offender anchor points on the frequency of street robbery at the census block level.