Transcript Burglars: Personality and Spatial Behaviour

Burglars: Personality and
Spatial Behaviour
Mgr. Veronika A. Polisenska, MSc.
Burglary
 Largely non-violent crime in which environmental
influences play a significant role
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Professional
Opportunist
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(Bennet & Wright, 1984; Nee & Taylor, 1988; Barker, 2000)
Geography of burglary
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Ranges and zones
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Minimum and maximum range
Safety zone
Awareness space
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Brantingham and Brantingham (1981)
Spatial patterns
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Uniform
Distance bias
Bimodal
Directional
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Rengert and Wasilchick (1985)
Mental maps
How people
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understand environment
relate to the environment
make spatial decisions
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(Kaplan, 1973; Cadwallader, 1976; Garling et al., 1985;
Kitchin, 1994)
Divisions
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Direction
 Linear
 Spread
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Region
 Specific
 Large
Personality
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Cloninger’s Temperament and Character
Inventory (TCI)
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Battery of tests
Designed to assess differences between people
7 dimensions of temperament and character
Temperament is defined as automatic emotional
responses to experience that are partly heritable
and stable throughout life.
The temperament dimensions
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Novelty seeking
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high - excitable, exploratory, curious, easily bored and easily
angered, disorderly
low - slow tempered, indifferent, stoical, systematic
Harm Avoidance
high - cautious, careful, timid, nervous and passive,
however, take greater care in anticipating danger
 low - carefree, daring and courageous, confident in danger
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Reward Dependence
high - loving, warm, sensitive, sociable, they seek social
contact.
 low - practical, toughminded, socially insensitive, they do not
strife to please others
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Research Sample
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27 burglars
At least once imprisoned for burglary
4 prisons of minimum and medium security
Age 20 - 56 (mean = 31.3)
Questionnaire regarding family and criminal
history
Semi-structured interview accompanied with
drawing of sketches of mental maps
Cloninger test
Typology of burglars
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Content analysis of interviews
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Source of the decision
External
 Internal
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Action
 Mental
 Physical
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 Flexible
 Loner
 Explorer
 Opportunist
Cloninger
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4 types of offenders’ personalities
Flexible offenders
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11 offenders
Middle values in all three temperament char.
Main theme - influence of external sources
Weak influence
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a tip or specialisation in very specific items, such as garages
or tools
puts quite an effort into looking for targets as well as
preparation
Strong influence
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of the situation, such as unlocked doors or open window
of friends, who needed help
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Spatial behavior
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Shows journeys to different places
Away from home
Large environment
Along familiar route or no preference in direction
Little or no planning is involved
Loners
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8 offenders
Low values in reward dependence
Main theme - fulfilment of practical needs.
Immediate fulfilment
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least effort to gain what they aim for, for ex. money, food.
Sufficient fulfilment
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for ex. enough of money for 6 months
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Spatial behaviour
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Specific place - burgle within their home
area using opportunities presented by
that environment
Large region - travel farther distances
and place large emphasis on preparation
and choice of target
Explorers
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5 offenders
High on novelty seeking
The main theme: occupation
maintaining standards
Like to overcome obstacles
Detailed process of choosing targets
Professionals
(mental)
and
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Spatial behaviour:
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far distances from their homes as they prefer the
uncertainties of unknown areas
can spend several days on the road or in one city
Opportunists
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3 offenders
The opposites of explorers
High on novelty seeking and low on reward
dependence
Main theme: occupation (physical) and experience
novelty
Burgle almost everyday
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Spatial behaviour
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exploratory trips
specific process of exploring
burgle everyday very often under the influence of alcohol
little or no planning is involved
Conclusion
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The current research shows that the
personality influences the spatial
behaviour of burglars
The personality influences burglary with
regards to sources of decision to
burglar and action while burgling
4 types of burglars with specific spatial
behaviors
Thank you
This presentation was supported by
Hlavka foundation