New methods for examining expertise in burglars in natural and simulated environments: preliminary findings

Abstract

Expertise literature in mainstream cognitive psychology is rarely applied to criminal behaviour. Yet, if closely scrutinised, examples of the characteristics of expertise can be identified in many studies examining the cognitive processes of offenders, especially regarding residential burglary. We evaluated two new methodologies that might improve our understanding of cognitive processing in offenders through empirically observing offending behaviour and decision-making in a free-responding environment. We tested hypotheses regarding expertise in burglars in a small, exploratory study observing the behaviour of ‘expert’ offenders (ex-burglars) and novices (students) in a real and in a simulated environment. Both samples undertook a mock burglary in a real house and in a simulated house on a computer. Both environments elicited notably different behaviours between the experts and the novices with experts demonstrating superior skill. This was seen in: more time spent in high value areas; fewer and more valuable items stolen; and more systematic routes taken around the environments. The findings are encouraging and provide support for the development of these observational methods to examine offender cognitive processing and behaviour.

Keywords:

• burglary
• expertise
• simulation
• decision-making

Acknowledgements

We thank Sussex Police and particularly Richard Bidmead for his support and assistance, Prof. Aldert Vrij and Zarah Vernham for comments on drafts, and those who helped with participant recruitment, particularly Tony and Garry.

Notes

1. This was established via email after potential participants responded to the advertisement. The importance of having no offending experience of any type was stressed and consequently four potential participants could not be used.

2. These were areas where higher value items were concentrated.

3. The laptop route failed to record for one burglar so n = 5 (it was noted that he had entered and exited at the rear).