’Every Robber Will Play with Your Mind’: The Use of Force and of Weapons in Robberies in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Abstract

'Every Robber Will Play with Your Mind’: The Use of Force and of Weapons in Robberies in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais examines the factors associated with the use of force and weapons in the execution of robberies and how these issues are interpreted by robbers. The research method involves 40 in-depth interviews with theft authors, as well as official records of occurrences of this criminal modality in Belo Horizonte city, Brazil. The conclusion is that, in addition to personality, the type and degree of violence committed during the robberies are associated with the context or manner in which the victim react to the robbery, the offender’s maturity in the robbery, the type of weapon used and the target of the robbery.

Keywords
robbery; robber; threat; use of force; weapons