Convenience Store Crime in Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, and South Carolina, 1991-1995
Description
For this study, convenience store robbery victims and
offenders in five states (Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan,
and South Carolina) were interviewed. Robbery victims were identified
by canvassing convenience stores in high-crime areas, while a sample
of unrelated offenders was obtained from state prison rolls. The aims
of the survey were to address questions of injury, to examine store
characteristics that might influence the rate of robbery and injury,
to compare how both victims and offenders perceived the robbery event
(including their assessment of what could be done to prevent
convenience store robberies in the future), and to identify ways in
which the number of convenience store robberies might be reduced.
Variables unique to Part 1, the Victim Data file, provide information
on how the victim was injured, whether hospitalization was required
for the injury, if the victim used any type of self-protection, and
whether the victim had been trained to handle a robbery. Part 2, the
Offender Data file, presents variables describing offenders' history of
prior convenience store robberies, whether there had been an
accomplice, motive for robbing the store, and whether various factors
mattered in choosing the store to rob (e.g., cashier location, exit
locations, lighting conditions, parking lot size, the number of clerks
working, weather conditions, the time of day, and the number of
customers in the store). Found in both files are variables detailing
whether a victim injury occurred, use of a weapon, how each
participant behaved, perceptions of why the store was targeted, what
could have been done to prevent the robbery, and ratings by the
researchers on the completeness, honesty, and cooperativeness of each
participant during the interview. Demographic variables found in both
the victim and offender files include age, gender, race, and
ethnicity.