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Investigations: Burglary

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Definition

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program defines burglary as “the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft” (FBI 2017). A structure according to UCR includes “an apartment, barn, house trailer, or houseboat when used as a permanent dwelling, office, railroad car (not automobile), stable, or vessel (i.e. ship)” (FBI 2017). Burglary is subdivided into forcible entry, unlawful entry, and attempted forcible entry (FBI 2017). Further, burglary is separated into two distinct categories: (1) residential and (2) commercial. Notably, individual states may have different definitions, classifications, and criminal penalties. Burglary investigations entail appropriate first responder actions, the establishment of a burglar(s) modus operandi (MO), knowledge of property fencing operations, and subsequent examinations of forensic evidence for successful investigative apprehension.

Introduction

In 2017, the UCR estimates that 1,401,840 burglaries have occurred with...

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Further Reading

  • Brandl, S. G. (2018). Criminal investigation. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

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  • Mawby, R. (2013). Burglary. London: Routledge.

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  • Pogrebin, M. (Ed.). (2011). About criminals: A view of the offenders’ world. London: Sage.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Advanced Policing Studies, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    Heather Panter

Authors
  1. Heather Panter
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Correspondence to Heather Panter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Security, Fire & Emergency Mgmt, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, USA

    Lauren R. Shapiro

  2. Dept. of Security, Fire & Emergency Mgmt, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, USA

    Marie-Helen Maras

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Panter, H. (2019). Investigations: Burglary. In: Shapiro, L., Maras, MH. (eds) Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_166-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69891-5_166-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69891-5

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