[Truncated abstract] This thesis examines the phenomenon of repeat burglary and its significance for crime prevention, criminology and victimology. The research program for this thesis was inspired some time ago by the Kirkholt burglary prevention project in the United Kingdom. The reduction of repeat victimisation quickly came to be seen as the key to Kirkholt?s success and by the late twentieth century victim-based crime prevention projects had been implemented in many parts of the world. However, even though these projects have achieved notable success there is still intense debate about why one-time victims are more likely than others to become future victims. This thesis aims to increase understanding of repeat burglary and other forms of repeat victimisation by contributing to its key concepts and its methods of analysis, and by applying these insights in Australian settings. In pursuing this endeavour the thesis links the problems of repeat victimisation with problems in other areas of criminology and social science. In particular the issue of whether prior victimisation is a cause of future victimisation or merely a marker of pre-existing risk has analogs in the areas of offending, of employment, in international disputes, and in many others. Despite this, there has been limited transfer of methods and concepts between repeat victim researchers and researchers in other areas. The thesis examines repeat burglary as a substantive area of research, but its approaches to method, concepts and data are relevant to all repeat victimisation research. ... It draws together criminological theory, conceptual analysis, and a pioneering application of survival analysis to pursue the mechanisms underlying repeat burglary in a Perth suburb. In doing so it illuminates issues about the relative power of state dependence and heterogeneity explanations of repeat burglary and arrives at substantive results that in some aspects differ from findings in the United Kingdom. This section also argues that the concept of state dependence commonly adopted is iv unnecessarily constraining and that a broader concept can explain some potentially conflicting findings of repeat victimisation research. Section 3 is an evaluation of a victim-focused burglary prevention initiative in Adelaide one of two nationally supported pilot projects. Section 4 examines carefully the claimed advantages of victim-focused crime prevention for distributing burglary prevention resources in an efficient and equitable way. It examines evidence concerning the differential capacity and willingness of victims to take effective preventive action and the need for both individual and collective support for effective preventive initiatives. Section 5 concludes the thesis by arguing first that the merging of victim support and crime prevention is not as simple as is sometimes claimed. It also argues that crime prevention needs to take into account more than criminological theory if it is to be effective. An important argument of the conclusion is that criminological imagination has been overly limited in comprehending repeat victimisation, and it explores the ways in which criminological research still struggles to appreciate the importance of the victim for theory and crime prevention. It also argues that the implications of repeat victimisation have yet to be fully developed and accepted. Fuller details of the thesis structure are given at the end of the introduction.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Home guardianship measures provide individuals with a means to enhance and ensure the safety of themselves, their family, and their property inside their homes. However, research regarding the factors considered in the decision to employ home guardianship measures as well as the means by which individuals assess this information regarding potential threats and protective responses is limited and varied in its implementation. This study attempts to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the use of home guardianship measures with the application of a modified version of Ronald Rogers’ (1983) Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) model. This model assesses factors that directly contribute to the motivation to engage in protective measures as well as cognitive processes through which an individual assesses these factors. This study finds support both for the direct relationships between sources of information about potential threats or protective responses and the use of home guardianship measures, as well as support for mediating effects of these relationships. In conclusion, this study provides suggestions for future research to further examine the application of PMT to understand the use of guardianship measures.

The purpose of this study was to examine control beliefs and their role in the different ways victims cope with burglary. Two studies were conducted. In the first study, participants were college students who had been burglarized within the previous year. The volunteers were men and women between the ages of 19 and 37 (N=61). The participants completed Levenson's (1981) locus of control scale. The following week, in order to assist recall, the participants viewed a 2-minute video that depicted a residential burglary in progress. Immediately following the video, they completed a coping measure, situational appraisals of control measure, and importance of outcome measure. The second study was a conceptual replication of the first study and therefore followed the same procedures. However, in order to assess locus of control prior to victimization, participants were male and female college students (N=102) who had never been burglarized (experimentally induced victims). Zero-order correlations, discriminant analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression were used to examine the main, mediating, and moderating effects of locus of control, importance of outcome, situational appraisals of control, and gender on coping functions. Because previous research has found gender differences in reaction to criminal victimization, i t was hypothesized that the influence that gender has on coping results from an individual's locus of control orientation. It was also expected that the direction or strength of the locus of control and coping relation would be influenced by an individual's gender and by how much importance he or she attached to the victimization experience. In both the victim group and experimentally induced victim group, emotion-focused coping was significantly predicted by gender, locus of control, importance of outcome, and situational appraisals of control. However, problem-focused coping was significantly predicted by gender, locus of control, importance of outcome, and situational appraisals of control for the victim group only. Locus of control did not influence the gender and coping relation. The results indicated that in both groups men who held strong powerful others locus of control beliefs used less emotion-focused coping. In contrast, in the burglary victim group, women who held strong powerful others locus of control beliefs used more emotion-focused coping. However, there was no relationship between powerful others locus of control beliefs and emotion-focused coping for women in the experimentally induced victim group. For experimentally induced victims, both men and women with high chance locus of control beliefs used more emotion-focused coping. In both groups, importance of outcome did not moderate the locus of control and coping relation. Implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The rate of residential break and enters in Canada has been declining according to official statistics, but has increased according to self reports of victims. Since the 1970s, considerable attention has been given to preventing break and enters by altering the physical environment. However, studies that assess the effects of physical design have produced mixed results. The data for this study were drawn from Guelph Police Service break and enter records, and property site assessments were performed using Google Earth and Street View. Drawing from rational choice and routine activities perspectives, physical and social features of burgled and non-burgled single detached dwellings were assessed to determine which features predicted break and enter victimization. Results suggest little empirical support for place-based crime prevention strategies such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

This thesis is an attempt to determine the transferability of the findings of some Western studies carried out on Residential burglary, and the applicability of the main methods used for burglary reduction, to societies with different socio-economic structure, in this case Tehran, the capital city of Iran. The thesis will look at patterns of residential burglary found in Tehran and those found by European and American research studies to outline the similarities and differences between them to decide upon the suitability of `opportunity' theories, and ultimately situational preventive measures implemented in some Western countries for the prevention or reduction of burglary in Tehran. Following the failure of social and psychological methods in reducing burglary levels, situational crime prevention has received a great attention in some Western countries during the last few decades. Situational crime prevention policies are aimed at the reduction of crime levels by reducing crime opportunities, through i. e. target-hardening techniques, changes in the management, design, and manipulation of the immediate environment in which crime occurs, which lead to an increase in the risks perceived by a wide range of offenders, also by reducing the benefits of crime. A large proportion of Western criminological studies have carried out their research relying on the assumption which suggests that crime opportunities encourage crime, and that eliminating or blocking crime opportunities will result in the reduction of a large number of residential burglaries. Opportunity theory has adopted the `rationality' and the `routine activity' models of crime to explain when, where, and how burglaries occur. It is assumed that offenders are rational in the selection of crime opportunities that are associated with higher rewards and lower risks of detection. It is also suggested that the routine activities of victims, as well as offenders, play a major role in selecting crime targets that present better opportunities for crime. The main aim of this research is to determine the suitability of situational measures and theories underlying such research to other societies such as Tehran. In order to do so, patterns of residential burglary in Tehran have been examined. An attempt has been made to identify the factors influencing patterns of burglary, and to produce a better understanding of how burglary occurs in Tehran. A comparison between the findings from Tehran and those from Western studies is expected to demonstrate whether the theoretical framework underlying Western studies is capable of explaining burglary patterns in Tehran, and that preventive policies implemented in Western countries are suited to controlling of burglary levels in Tehran. It is hoped that the findings from the current research provide a basis for appropriate crime prevention policies and for future research.

The purpose of this study was to examine control beliefs and their role in the different ways victims cope with burglary. Two studies were conducted. In the first study, participants were college students who had been burglarized within the previous year. The volunteers were men and women between the ages of 19 and 37 (N=61). The participants completed Levenson's (1981) locus of control scale. The following week, in order to assist recall, the participants viewed a 2-minute video that depicted a residential burglary in progress. Immediately following the video, they completed a coping measure, situational appraisals of control measure, and importance of outcome measure. The second study was a conceptual replication of the first study and therefore followed the same procedures. However, in order to assess locus of control prior to victimization, participants were male and female college students (N=102) who had never been burglarized (experimentally induced victims). Zero-order correlations, discriminant analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression were used to examine the main, mediating, and moderating effects of locus of control, importance of outcome, situational appraisals of control, and gender on coping functions. Because previous research has found gender differences in reaction to criminal victimization, i t was hypothesized that the influence that gender has on coping results from an individual's locus of control orientation. It was also expected that the direction or strength of the locus of control and coping relation would be influenced by an individual's gender and by how much importance he or she attached to the victimization experience. In both the victim group and experimentally induced victim group, emotion-focused coping was significantly predicted by gender, locus of control, importance of outcome, and situational appraisals of control. However, problem-focused coping was significantly predicted by gender, locus of control, importance of outcome, and situational appraisals of control for the victim group only. Locus of control did not influence the gender and coping relation. The results indicated that in both groups men who held strong powerful others locus of control beliefs used less emotion-focused coping. In contrast, in the burglary victim group, women who held strong powerful others locus of control beliefs used more emotion-focused coping. However, there was no relationship between powerful others locus of control beliefs and emotion-focused coping for women in the experimentally induced victim group. For experimentally induced victims, both men and women with high chance locus of control beliefs used more emotion-focused coping. In both groups, importance of outcome did not moderate the locus of control and coping relation. Implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Denna avhandling avser att beskriva hur polisen i Mellersta Skåne arbetar förebyggande med bostadsinbrott. Eftersom inbrott har blivit ett problem i detta område under det senaste decenniet är det intressant att veta vilka åtgärder polisen vidtar för att minska och förebygga dem. Resultaten visar att polisen i mellersta Skåne behandlar bostadsinbrott som en viktig fråga och genomför både särskilda förebyggande åtgärder, såsom en specifik intervention, och dagliga förebyggande åtgärder, t.ex. genom att sprida information eller kartläggning och patrullering av vissa områden. De flesta av de använda förebyggande åtgärderna bygger på rutinaktivitetsteorin, implicit eller explicit. Grannsamverkan rekommenderas av polisen, men även att bara lära känna sina grannar. Upprepad viktimisering verkar, intressant nog, inte vara ett problem i Skåne. Vidare, är det inte mycket som är känt om den typ av gärningsmannen som begår bostadsinbrott. För att förebyggande insatser ska ha en större inverkan, bör det finnas både kortsiktiga och långsiktiga metoder. / This thesis aims to describe how the police work with residential burglary prevention in police area Middle Scania. Since burglary has become a problem in this area in the past decade, it is interesting to know what measures the police take to reduce and prevent it. The results show that the police in Middle Scania treat domestic burglary as a serious issue and implement both specific prevention measures, such as a specialised intervention, and day-to-day prevention measures, e.g. spreading the information or mapping and patrolling certain areas. Most of the used prevention measures are based on Routine Activity Theory, implicitly or explicitly. Neighbourhood watch is recommended by the police, as well as simply getting to know one’s neighbours. Interestingly enough repeat victimisation does not appear to be a problem in Middle Scania. Not much is known about the type of the offender that commits domestic burglary. Both short term and long term measures should be applied in order for prevention to have a greater impact.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Community-based Counselling Psychology on 15 March 2016 / Despite the often publicised occurrence of residential robberies being accompanied with additional forms of violence there is a limited amount of research exploring these forms of intersecting violence, specifically within the South African context. The latest statistics released by the South African Police Service (2015) indicate that residential robberies are continuing to increase. The co-occurrence of rape in such residential robberies is under-studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore and describe a profile of residential robberies that are accompanied by rape in Gauteng, South Africa between 2002 and 2012. This was done by exploring the temporal, sociodemographic and situational factors related to reported instances of this crime. The study consisted of cases obtained by the Crime Administration System (CAS). The study focused specifically on instances of reported residential robbery, in Gauteng. Overall there were 68178 cases analysed, with 1104 cases containing instances of reported co-occurring rape. The initial descriptive results indicated that specific variables significantly influence the co-occurrence of rape during a residential robbery. Whereby, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of rapes co-occurring within the 2002 to 2012 period Additionally, binary logistic regression analysis showed that Black females between the ages of 12 and 17 years are the demographic group most at risk when other situational factor are additionally present. Other findings of the regression indicate that there is an increased risk of a rape co-occurring during the residential robbery; over the weekend, between the hours of 00:00 and 06:59 and when no firearm is used as the method of entry or during the residential robbery. Overall, the study present significant findings related to this specific co-occurring crime and a number of areas that can be further explored in relation to the co-occurrence of rape during residential robbery and other forms of co-occurring violence, specifically in the context of South Africa

This study explores three separate, but inter-related aspects of residential break and enter. The study, located in the Capital Regional District of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, offers a unique environment for this type of research with its thirteen municipalities, four municipal and one national police force confined geographically by sea on three sides and wilderness on the fourth. The first part of this research identifies spatial and temporal patterns of residential break and enters at the regional level and the municipal level. The results showed that patterns existed at the municipal level, but changed at the regional level. There was evidence that some of the patterns at the municipal level persisted over time. Temporally, break and enter is predominately an afternoon occurrence. No other consistent pattern was found daily, monthly, nor seasonally over the course of the study period. The second part of the study examines police perceptions about the location of residential break and enters high activity areas or 'hot spots'. Police perceptions were compared to actual hot spots to determine the degree of agreement. The research also explored the concordance between police perceptions of hot spot locations. The results indicated that police hot spots did not conform to actual hot spots; furthermore, there was only limited agreement amongst police on hot spot locations. The third part of the study examined burglar's use of space. Burglars were asked a number of questions to establish their geographical knowledge of the region. Information was obtained on the location of their offences, routes taken to offence sites, method of transportation, trip start location, motivation behind the offence, and purpose of the trip. The findings indicate that offenders commit the majority of their crimes within areas they know. The subjects in the study were motivated by the need for money, mainly to purchase drugs. The majority of Offence trips were initiated with the sole purpose of committing a burglary. Most journey to crimes emanated from the offenders' residence. Travel was restricted not so much by distance, instead by their knowledge of the region or by the necessity to obtain money for drugs.