DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02699
title: Convenience Store Crime in Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, and South Carolina, 1991-1995
title: Archival Version

description: For this study, convenience store robbery victims and
 offenders in five states (Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan,
 and South Carolina) were interviewed. Robbery victims were identified
 by canvassing convenience stores in high-crime areas, while a sample
 of unrelated offenders was obtained from state prison rolls. The aims
 of the survey were to address questions of injury, to examine store
 characteristics that might influence the rate of robbery and injury,
 to compare how both victims and offenders perceived the robbery event
 (including their assessment of what could be done to prevent
 convenience store robberies in the future), and to identify ways in
 which the number of convenience store robberies might be reduced.
 Variables unique to Part 1, the Victim Data file, provide information
 on how the victim was injured, whether hospitalization was required
 for the injury, if the victim used any type of self-protection, and
 whether the victim had been trained to handle a robbery. Part 2, the
 Offender Data file, presents variables describing offenders' history of
 prior convenience store robberies, whether there had been an
 accomplice, motive for robbing the store, and whether various factors
 mattered in choosing the store to rob (e.g., cashier location, exit
 locations, lighting conditions, parking lot size, the number of clerks
 working, weather conditions, the time of day, and the number of
 customers in the store). Found in both files are variables detailing
 whether a victim injury occurred, use of a weapon, how each
 participant behaved, perceptions of why the store was targeted, what
 could have been done to prevent the robbery, and ratings by the
 researchers on the completeness, honesty, and cooperativeness of each
 participant during the interview. Demographic variables found in both
 the victim and offender files include age, gender, race, and
ethnicity.
description: Homicide ranks as one of the leading types of
 occupational injuries in the United States, accounting for a large
 number of deaths. Convenience stores have the second highest
 prevalence of workplace homicide, second only to taxicabs. This has
 prompted leaders of the convenience store industry, public health
 officials, and criminal justice practitioners to search for ways in
 which these rates could be reduced and the safety of workers in
 convenience stores enhanced. A variety of reasons make convenience
 stores prone to robbery. These stores are easily accessible and are
 located in metropolitan areas. They have available cash on hand, which
 makes them attractive to robbers who need a quick source of funds. It
 was thought, however, since convenience stores are static
 establishments, that certain crime control strategies employed by police,
 by the stores, or through public ordinances might have a deterrent
 effect on robbery. The objective of this study was to advance research
 in the area of convenience store robberies by (1) addressing questions
 of injury, (2) examining store characteristics that might influence
 the rate of robbery and injury, (3) comparing how robbery victims and
 offenders perceived the robbery event, particularly their assessment
 of what could be done to prevent convenience store robberies in the
 future, and (4) identifying ways in which the number of convenience
store robberies might be reduced.
description: Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, and
 South Carolina were selected for the study because these states had
 previously conducted research to estimate the probability of
 convenience store robberies in their jurisdictions and the extent of
 injury in those robberies. For the victim file, 20 interviews were
 conducted in four of the five states participating in the study. In
 the fifth state (Michigan), primarily for logistical reasons of
 distance and difficulty in gaining access to convenience stores,
 victim interviews were not completed. This resulted in a sample of 80
 victims from four states. Once victims were identified, they were
 interviewed either in person or by phone, depending on the distance to
 the store. Victims were interviewed for between 20 and 25 minutes. For
 the offender file, within each of the five states analyses of
 currently incarcerated robbers were conducted to identify those that
 had been convicted of a convenience store robbery. A total of 147
 incarcerated robbers were interviewed in person, in interviews lasting
 on average from 25 to 40 minutes. Once data were collected from the
 individual sites, the interviews were forwarded to a central location
to ensure consistency and comparability in coding and data entry.
description: Variables unique to Part 1, the Victim Data file,
 provide information on how the victim was injured, whether
 hospitalization was required for the injury, if the victim used any
 type of self-protection, and whether the victim had been trained to
 handle a robbery. Part 2, the Offender Data file, presents variables
 describing offenders' history of prior convenience store robberies,
 whether there had been an accomplice, motive for robbing the store,
 and whether various factors mattered in choosing the store to rob
 (e.g., cashier location, exit locations, lighting conditions, parking
 lot size, the number of clerks working, weather conditions, the time
 of day, and the number of customers in the store). Found in both files
 are variables detailing whether a victim injury occurred, use of a
 weapon, how each participant behaved, perceptions of why the store was
 targeted, what could have been done to prevent the robbery, and
 ratings by the researchers on the completeness, honesty, and
 cooperativeness of each participant during the interview. Demographic
 variables found in both the victim and offender files include age,
gender, race, and ethnicity.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Convenience sampling.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Victim Data
DS2: Offender Data
description: Persons (victims and offenders) involved in a
 convenience store robbery in which an injury may or may not have
occurred.
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection
 instruments are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The
 PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be
 accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat
 Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is
provided through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.