Chapter Overview

        Two important aspects of burglary are its frequency and its economic impact. Nationally, if reported burglaries were distributed evenly over time, one would occur every 15.4 seconds. Residential burglaries account for two-thirds of this category of crime, with the rest being attacks on various types of commercial establishments. In terms of sheer numbers, there are more residential than commercial burglaries. Businesses have a greater risk of being victimized, however, because there are far fewer of them. The average loss in residential offenses is $1,381; in nonresidential offenses it is $1,615.

        Nationally, among reported burglaries, 64 percent involve a forcible entry in which an instrument such as a pry bar, screwdriver, or axe is employed; 30 percent of the cases involve an entry without the use of force, such as by using a master key, opening an unlocked door, or picking a lock; the remaining offenses consist of attempted entries. Most burglaries are characterized by entry through a door rather than a window. In general, commercial establishments are entered at the rear, whereas entry for residences tend to be at the front. Attempting to gain entry at the front of a house during the day has a certain logic to it. Neighbors who remain at home are used to seeing salespeople or political workers approach front doors, so seeing any pedestrian approaching a front door is not likely to be considered an abnormal occurrence. In addition, front doors are often recessed, thereby limiting entry way visibility, and many doors can be compromised quickly further reducing the possibility of detection.

        Although national data for reported burglaries vary by month, with July and August having the most burglaries and February the fewest, there is little seasonal fluctuation. Residential burglaries most often occur during working hours on a weekday, when many homes are not occupied; most commercial burglaries are committed on week nights, when the absences of people can be predicted accurately.

        Burglary ahs a low clearance rate: 13 percent. As a rule of thumb, burglaries resulting in very low or very high property losses are associated with a greater clearance rate than are those the result in midrange losses. Although midrange-loss burglaries are reported more frequently than others, los loss, petty burglaries are committed by less sophisticated offenders who are more easily identified and high loss burglaries receive more attention than do burglaries with midrange losses.