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48 Fed. Probation 47 (1984)
The Armed Urban Bank Robber: A Profile

handle is hein.journals/fedpro48 and id is 295 raw text is: The Armed Urban Bank Robber: A Profile By JAMES F. HARAN. PH.D. AND JOHN M. MARTIN, PH.D. B ANK ROBBERY always receives media at- tention. Bank robbers frequently make the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most wanted list of criminals. Judges give bank robbers long sentences, and parole boards are reluctant to release these inmates who have been classified as violent criminals. The public in turn pictures bank robbers as carefully planning their jobs like the famous Willie Sutton; making their getaways heavi- ly armed and in a blaze of gunfire, living up to the motion picture images of Dillinger, Ma Barker, Machine Gun Kelly and other infamous bank thieves of the thirties. A study by the authors of 500 convicted armed bank robbers strips away much of this cinematic glamour from the bank robber and reveals a very different type of criminal personality compared to the usual stereotype. The study used detailed life history data and court and reported crime records to examine the careers of 500 convicted bank robbers predominantly from the highly urbanized area of New York City. The 500 robbers studied were all convicted armed bank robbers who appeared before the United States District Court in Brooklyn, New York between 1964 and 1976. These men were con- victed of committing 281 separate bank robberies. Many were also involved in additional bank rob- beries with which they were not charged. The data, extending over a 12-year period (1964 to 1976), allowed an in-depth look at this particular form of violent crime and the people who engaged in this type of armed theft. The Crime of Bank Robbery Although bank robbery constitutes a relatively small portion (less than 2 percent) of robbery statistics, it is the fastest-growing type of robbery in the country. This growth rate gives little indica- tion of halting. Bank robberies in the United States rose from 1,730 in 1967 to 6,597 in 1982, down slightly from the previous year 1981.1 Analysis in- dicated that this crime was concentrated primarily in large urban areas. Among the many categories of recorded crime, bank robbery is unique in several respects. First, *Dr. Haran is the chief probation officer, United States District Court, Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Martin is a professor, Department of Sociology, Fordham University. bank robbery is perhaps the most fully reported of any crime known to the police. This is due to the regulations of the Federal Deposit Insurance Cor- poration, which insures over 95 percent of all banks. The FDIC regulations require the reporting of all bank losses by theft or burglary. This insures the reporting of bank robberies. Secondly, according to the FBI, over 80 percent of the bank robbers are identified and arrested. This is an exceptionally high rate of clearance by arrest in contrast to other types of crime and other types of robbery in particular.2 Thirdly, the conviction rate of those arrested for this crime and prosecuted in the Federal courts is exceptionally high, averaging 88.8 percent for the 12-month period ending in June 19822 Finally, Federal court practice requires that defendants, prior to sentencing, be uniformly subjected to an ex- tensive social and criminal background investiga- tion. These presentence reports are prepared by the trained investigative staffs of the probation depart- ments attached to each United States District Court. This practice collects and summarizes the vast amount of data these offenders generate in their passage through the various components of the criminal justice system. The gathering of this data from law enforcement, courts, probation, prison, and parole agency records makes bank rob- bers, as a class of offenders, identifiable and amenable to an in-depth analysis. Who Are the Bank Robbers? Analysis reveals that the perpetrators of the violent crime of armed bank robbery were not a homogenous group. Further, as a group, their com- position in many respects had changed substantial- ly over the 12-year span of the study. The first variable examined revealed no surprise. Ninety-six percent of the robbers were male. Of the 18 con- victed female bank robbers, only two assumed a principal role in the crime and only one was known to be armed. The others drove getaway cars or pro- vided other ancillary services. Ninety-six percent were native-born Americans, and 65 percent were born in New York State. Within the city itself the 1Uniform Crime Reports, 198Z p. 155. 'Uniform Crime Reports. 19RZ p. 18: only 25 percent of robbery offenses reported to law enforcement were cleared during 1982. ' Federal Offenders in United States District Courts, 1982 Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Washington, D.C.. 1983. p. H-38, Table H-19.

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