Armed Robbers In Action: Stickups and Street Culture

3 Choosing the Target

Choosing the Target Once offenders have decided to commit an armed robbery they confront the task of selecting a promising target. This can be a complicated exercise. The offenders typically are seeking to solve a pressing financial problem as quickly as possible so they can resume their partying. At the same time, many of them are reluctant to do a stickup without first determining the likely risks and rewards. As the offenders attempt to settle on a robbery target, therefore, they are buffered by two seemingly conflicting demands: one calling for immediate action, the other counseling caution. How do they manage to reconcile these demands and choose a specific target? That is the question that this chapter seeks to answer. Our aim is to look at the target selection process in terms of the wider context of the lifestyles and daily activities of the offenders. STREET ROBBERY Offenders do not choose their robbery targets in a vacuum; their decisions are circumscribed by emotional states on one side and by sociocultural conditions on the other. Most of the armed robbers in our sample did not pick their targets in a calm, deliberate manner, but rather in a state of perceived 61 62 CHAPTER 3 desperation. In the throes of such a state, they were not inclined to weigh carefully the pros and cons of each target objectively available to them. Instead, the targets selected by the offenders often emerged as a result of their involvement in other forms of illicit street action. Katz (1991:297) noted a similar phenomenon in his study of persistent armed robbers , concluding that the "interlocking, open-ended . . . illicit activities" that constitute the essence of street life have a powerful tendency to bring offenders face to face with criminal opportunities. Not only does an intense commitment to drug taking, gambling, or prostitution bring a robber into frequent contact with vulnerable victims, but it also encourages a willingness to exploit their vulnerability. I'm hanging out in the street on the corner [and] I'm always looking for a way to make some money. Always. And by me being right there, it's like an accident waiting to happen. ... I don't look for [the target], it comes up. (No. 04) Criminal Victims Six out of every ten offenders in our sample who specialized in street robbery—forty-three of seventy-three—said that they usually preyed on individuals who themselves were involved in lawbrealdng. Armed robberies against victims who are themselves criminals seldom show up in official crime statistics because they are unlikely to be reported to the police . As a result, they typically are excluded from studies of target selection in robbery, most of which are based on prison interviews (Katz 1991). Nevertheless, these offenses are important ; they make a substantial contribution to the violent reputation of many so-called high-crime neighborhoods, and they play a crucial role in shaping the social environment within which a variety of illicit transactions are conducted. Moreover, to some extent such robberies may fuel official rates of serious criminal violence; some may result in injuries or deaths that cannot easily be covered up, and some may CHOOSING THE TARGET 63 have a contagious effect whereby innocent victims also are targeted (see Loftin 1986). Given that many of the offenders we spoke to hacLdecided to commit their stickups so they could get high or stay high, it should come as no surprise that, of the forty-three who usually chose criminal victims, thirty-five said they preferred to rob dope dealers. Almost all of these offenders targeted young, street-level dealers who sold small quantities of crack cocaine directly to consumers. A few, however, sometimes robbed major drug suppliers whose illicit transactions were conducted several steps removed from the street corner. Part of the attraction of robbing dope dealers was that it was an efficient way to obtain drugs without having to pay for them. As one offender told us: "After I robbed my first dope dealer, I suddenly discovered that I didn't need any money to cop my drugs." Perhaps even more attractive, though, was drug dealers ' tendency to use cash to transact their business. [I like robbing] them drug dealers [because] it satisfies two things for me: my thirst for drugs and thefinancialaspect. [I can] actually pay my rent, pay for my car, [and things like that too.] (Marko Maze—No. 03) [If you see...