Introduction
There are differences and similarities between robbery and burglary. Burglary occurs when one enters a place without the owner’s permission usually with the objective of committing a felony (Siegel, 2015). For instance, the individual could get into an apartment and commit a crime such as theft. The occurrences that result to burglary do not just involve theft. The victims of the apartment theft do not have to be there when the offense is being done. Robbery, on the other hand, is the larceny that is committed through the use of threat, pressure, and violence. The unlawful act of taking someone’s property away with the aim of depriving them permanently is larceny, for instance, if a man goes to a person and threatens to kill them if they do not hand their belongings to him. Such a man is said to have committed robbery. Unlike burglary, one may have to use a weapon or threat in a robbery.
Similarities
Both robbery and burglary are serious criminal activities where the culprit could face a legal penalty (Angel et al., 2014). In both cases, threats or violence could occur on nonconformity or fight back of the victims to whom the offense is committed. Both burglary and robbery could entail stealing another person’s material goods. Additionally, in both robbery and burglary, the perpetrator willingly acts against the interests of the victim. In both burglary and robbery, the perpetrator first identifies the target and calculates their means of achieving their intentions devoid of being caught.
Differences
The penalty offered for the two crimes are different. If one is convicted of robbery, they could be sentenced to probation, criminal fines, restitution or, at least, one year in prison. The conviction for burglary depends on the degree of the charge. The sentence could range from one year to twenty-five years. The major difference between burglary and robbery is that burglary is a property crime while robbery is a personal offense. This is because robbery is perpetrated against an individual and could include rape, homicide, kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery, and assault. There is also a range of categories that are included in homicide such as vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and first-degree murder. Burglary, in contrast, is a property crime in that the offenses are categorized as criminal activities against property and do not have to involve harming another person. Burglary could entail interfering with another person’s right to enjoy their property (Angel et al., 2014). It is vital to distinguish the intention of the perpetrator to differentiate between robbery and burglary successfully. Though there could be the intention of using violence, it is not indispensable to have a weapon for the crime to be classified as robbery. On the contrary, a burglar in most cases does not have the intention to use violence unless violence arises in the proceedings.
Conclusion
Both robbery and burglary are serious crimes. In both cases, threats could occur on nonconformity of the victim present at the scene and to whom the crime is committed. Unlike robbers, burglars do not have to face their victims violently.
References
Angel, C. M., Sherman, L. W., Strang, H., Ariel, B., Bennett, S., Inkpen, N., & Richmond, T. S. (2014). Short-term effects of restorative justice conferences on post-traumatic stress symptoms among robbery and burglary victims: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 10(3), 291-307.
Siegel, L. (2015). Criminology in Canada: Theories, patterns, and typologies (12th ed.). Boston, United States: Cengage Learning.