Simulating residential environments to understand burglary: preliminary results from a new project

• In Event: The Innovative use of Technology in Understanding Crime

Abstract

Extensive empirical research has been undertaken over the last three decades in order to understand burglars’ decision-making at the scene of the crime. This has involved interviews with incarcerated and active burglars and experiments using maps, slides, videos and photographs. Emphasis has been placed on how the burglar picks his target and more recently, how he navigates the property once inside. A lot has been learned about the cues used in the environment by burglars to assess the vulnerability of targets and the relative expertise with which this is done, in comparison to the novice (householder). Recently the field has moved forward by using laptop simulations of houses in order to observe offenders and non-offenders undertaking mock ‘burglaries’ (Nee et al, under review). Here, we present preliminary results for a new larger simulation which has been piloted with a large number of students who also undertook anonymous self-reported offending. We discuss the results in terms of the validity of using this technology for understanding criminal behaviour.

Authors

• Claire Nee, University of Portsmouth

• Jean-Louis van Gelder, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)

• Andrew Lemieux, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)

• Marco Otte, Vrij University, Amsterdam

• Stijn Ruiter, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR)