NCJ Number
177233
Date Published
1998
Length
90 pages
Annotation
A total of 267 imprisoned burglars in New South Wales (Australia) were interviewed about the process of burglary and the disposal of stolen goods.
Abstract
Many of the questions focused on a specific reference period, which was the time the respondent was last free, prior to the current incarceration. The respondents' median burglary rate was 8.7 per month during the period on which the interview focused. Approximately four-fifths of the respondents who had used a vehicle to get to and from a burglary used a stolen one; and just over four-fifths of the sample reported spending some or all of their burglary income on illicit drugs, and nearly half the sample reported spending burglary income on general living expenses. Nearly two-thirds of the adult sample and one-quarter of the juvenile sample had used heroin during the period on which the interview focused. Median earnings from burglary were $2,000 a week; median expenditure on all illicit drugs by drug users was $900 per week. The most common means of disposing of stolen goods in order of frequency were trading them for drugs; selling to family, friends, and acquaintances; selling to fences; selling to legitimate businesses; selling to pawn and second-hand shops; trading for other goods; selling at markets; selling at garage sales; and selling through an auction house. Adults and heroin users were more likely to sell to legitimate businesses than were juvenile and non-users of heroin. For sales to pawn and secondhand shops, 67 percent of respondents claimed the owner knew the goods were stolen. Sales to strangers were most likely to be made by high-frequency burglars. Seventy-seven percent of respondents had stolen goods to order. 58 references and appended overall reliability score and the interview schedule