Abstract
ObjectivesThis study investigates the deterrent effects of incremental levels of guardianship on residential burglary and assesses how burglars differ from non-burglars in terms of their perceptions of opportunities for burglary.MethodsIn a virtual reality experiment, 181 incarcerated burglars and 172 non-burglars (university students) were tasked to appraise a virtual neighbourhood in search of a burglary target. During the appraisal process, participants were exposed to different levels of guardianship, ranging from the mere presence of a guardian to an intervening guardian.ResultsThe presence of a guardian deterred both burglars and non-burglars alike, with only negligible incremental effects for levels of guardianship. For burglars, guardianship increased the perceived likelihood of being caught and the perceived level of social cohesion, whereas it decreased neighbourhood attractiveness. The burglars differed from the non-burglars in terms of how they appraised the virtual neighbourhood, clearly reflecting differences in expertise between both groups.ConclusionsWith respect to residential burglary, the results suggest that guardians—in line with the original notion of guardianship developed by Cohen and Felson (American Sociological Review, 44(4), 588–608, 1979)—serve as a deterrent simply by being present.
Highlights
Cyber-sickness, and gaming experience were added as covariates for all analyses as they could potentially affect perception of the neighbourhood as well as time spent and distance travelled in the virtual environment (VE)
We compared the different levels of guardianship at the aggregated factor level, followed by a comparison on the individual item level
Significant effects emerged for chances of getting caught (F(1, 164) = 3.32, p = .07, η2 = .02) and willingness to burgle the neighbourhood at a later point in time (F(1, 164) = 3.05, p = .08, η2 = .02). These findings indicate that when a guardian is present, irrespective of the level of guardianship, ratings of perceived difficulty, social cohesion, and chances of getting caught increase, while willingness to burgle decreases
Summary
In a virtual reality experiment, 181 incarcerated burglars and 172 nonburglars (university students) were tasked to appraise a virtual neighbourhood in search of a burglary target. Participants were exposed to different levels of guardianship, ranging from the mere presence of a guardian to an intervening guardian
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