Understanding Property Crimes: Larceny, Burglary, and Arson Motives

Posted on Oct 1, 2025 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

Property Crimes: Burglary, Arson, and Theft

Defining Key Property Offenses

Burglary and Arson Definitions

Burglary involves a forcible entry into a person’s home or place of work for the purpose of theft.

Arson is the criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property.

Classifying Thieves and Fences

  • Occasional Thieves: Individuals who are not professional criminals nor do they make crime their occupation.
  • Professional Thieves: Individuals who make a significant portion of their income from crime.

A Fence is an individual who earns his or her living solely by buying and reselling stolen merchandise.

Larceny and Theft Classifications

Larceny/Theft is probably the most common criminal offense. Larceny today is classified as:

  • Petit Larceny: Involves small amounts of money or merchandise.
  • Grand Larceny: Involves merchandise of great value.

Types and Prevention of Larceny/Theft

Larceny Types

Common types of larceny include:

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

Shoplifting Prevention Strategies

Prevention strategies for shoplifting include:

  • Target Removal Strategies: Involves putting false merchandise on display while the real item is under lock and key.
  • Target Hardening Strategies: Involve locking goods in place or having them monitored by electronic systems.

Understanding Auto Theft and Carjacking

Reasons for auto theft often include:

  • Joyriding
  • Short-term transportation
  • Long-term transportation
  • Profit
  • Commission of another crime

Carjacking is legally considered a type of robbery because it involves the use of force to steal a vehicle.

Analyzing Burglary and Burglar Behavior

Commercial Burglary Considerations

Commercial burglary often involves businesses that display merchandise, allowing burglars to know exactly what to look for.

Rational Choice Theory and Burglary Prevention

Rational Choice theory suggests that criminal behavior is a calculated decision. Prevention applications include:

  • Police offering target hardening measures to repeat victims.
  • New police initiatives identifying repeat burglars and providing intervention designed to supply them with legitimate economic opportunities to reduce criminal motivation.
  • School-based programs designed to reduce criminal motivation.
  • Developing a burglary control model house.
  • Police developing environmental improvements in target areas to minimize burglary opportunities.

Characteristics of a Burglary Career

Successful careers in burglary often require:

  1. Technical competence
  2. Maintenance of personal integrity
  3. Specialization in burglary
  4. Financial success
  5. The ability to avoid prison sentences

Why Repeat Burglary Occurs

Reasons a burglar may target the same location again:

  1. It takes less effort to burgle a home or apartment known to be a suitable target than an unknown or unsuitable one.
  2. The burglar is already aware of the target’s layout.
  3. The ease of entry of the target has probably not changed, and escape routes are known.
  4. The lack of protective measures and the absence of nosy and intrusive neighbors.
  5. Goods have been observed that could not be taken out the first time.

Motives and Types of Arson

Juvenile Arson Classifications

Juvenile arsonists are often categorized as:

  • The playing with matches fire setter
  • The crying for help fire setter
  • The delinquent fire setter
  • The severely disturbed fire setter

Arson for Profit and Fraud

  • Arson for Profit: Involves people looking to collect debts who may hire professional arsonists.
  • Arson Fraud: Involves a business owner burning his or her property to escape financial problems.

Common Motives for Arson

Motives for arson include:

  1. Obtaining money during a period of financial crisis.
  2. Getting rid of outdated or slow-moving inventory.
  3. Destroying outmoded machines and technology.
  4. Paying off legal and illegal debt.
  5. Relocating or remodeling a business.
  6. Eliminating business competition by burning the rival.
  7. Planning bankruptcies to eliminate debts.