Armed Robbers in Action: Stickups and Street Culture

by Richard T. Wright and Scott H. Decker

Book Overview

One of the most feared crimes among urban dwellers, armed robbery poses a serious risk of injury or death, and presents daunting challenges for law enforcement. Yet little is known about the complex factors that motivate assailants who use a weapon to take property by force or threat of force.

Armed Robbers in Action is not like previous studies that focus on the often distorted accounts of incarcerated offenders. Richard T. Wright and Scott...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155553323X
• ISBN13: 9781555533236
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Northeastern University Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

You Can Not Make This Stuff Up

This is an excellent piece of qualitative research and I use it as an example in my research class. As other writers have noted this book is entertaining and fun. Also, it demonstrates how a researcher uses snowball sampling to find individuals who may otherwise be reluctant to admit to others that they are engaging in some kind of behavior which society considers immoral or which is outright illegal. Research does not have to be dull and good qualitative research reads as well as the best fiction.

Brilliant.

All I can say is... wow. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to currently be a student of Richard Wright's, studying Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. While this ethnography is extremely insightful and intriguing, it doesn't even begin to capture the sheer brilliance that IS Richard Wright. He is truly a one of a kind researcher, and many of his ideas have been groundbreaking in the field of Criminology -- especially since the studies for this book were done in the '80s, a much more conservative period as far as criminological research is concerned. This book would be interesting and even entertaining for anyone, but especially for those with a background in Criminology or Sociology. I would also recommend Richard Wright's other piece about this research project, BURGLARS ON THE JOB.

All that and a bag of chips

This is first rate ethnography that is well-written, insightful, and entertaining. Yes, I said entertaining, as in a good read. Fascinating book that will really make you think about what lies behind criminal decision-making . . . highly recommend it.

Laughed my ass off and then thought about it.

I spent three years being bored to points beyond death in law school, but this book was something all together different. The fact that it was written at all is impressive. You read about the inner city in the papers, but this book takes you there, and not just into the slum, but into the heads of the dregs of society. The logic expressed by the subjects of this book is so radically foreign to those of us in textbook America. Take a chance and look into the underclass. Oops, I used the class-word. I know we don't have those in this country, but this book may make you think. I only wish Pat Buchanan could meet some of these guys.