A Crime of Convenience

Abstract

The role of the physical and social environment as a catalyst for criminal activity has become prominent in recent years as an issue deserving scholarly attention. More specifically, several scholars have investigated the relationship between environmental factors and convenience store robbery. This study adds a dimension to previous empirical research by assessing, through multivariate statistical methods, whether the physical features and surrounding demographics of 30 randomly sampled convenience stores in Leon County, Florida, significantly affect the vulnerability of those stores to robbery. Results show that environmental factors are not important predictors of whether a convenience store is robbed, but parking lot size, degree of social disorganization surrounding the store, number of hours open, and whether gasoline service is provided are significant in determining the severity of robbery. These findings suggest that offenders may not be uniform in their determination of what constitutes vulnerability. The implications of these findings for primary prevention strategies are discussed.