Property Crime

Property crime can be defined as the unlawful damage or taking of the property of another without the use of force or threat. The Federal Bureau of Investigation identifies four types of property crime as part of their Uniform Crime Reporting program, which are as follows:

• 1.
  Burglary (breaking or entering) is the unlawful entering of a structure to commit a felony or a theft. Attempted forcible entry is included.
• 2.
  Larceny/theft (except motor vehicle theft) relates to the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. Examples are thefts of bicycles, motor vehicle parts and accessories, shoplifting, pocket picking, or the stealing of any property or article that is not taken by force and violence or by fraud. Attempted larcenies are included. Embezzlement, confidence games, forgery, and check fraud are excluded.
• 3.
  Motor vehicle theft is the theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle. A motor vehicle isself-propelled and runs on land surface and not on rails. Motorboats, construction equipment, airplanes, and farming equipment are specifically excluded from this category.
• 4.
  Arson refers to any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, or personal property of another.

[Page 556]This entry focuses on those who perpetrate property crime, discussing relevant patterns and providing explanations of this form of social deviance.