Robbery is the crime of seizing property through violence or intimidation. A perpetrator of a robbery is a robber. Because violence is an ingredient of most robberies, they sometimes result in the harm or murder of their victims. Robbery is generally an urban crime.

The element of force differentiates robbery from embezzlement, larceny, and other types of theft. Piracy is a type of robbery. Armed robbery involves the use of a weapon. Highway robbery takes place outside and in a public place. Carjacking is the act of stealing a car from a victim, usually at gunpoint. Banks are often the target of bank robberies.

In English law, the Theft Act, 1968 sets out when a person would be guilty of a robbery - if he "... steals (see theft in English law - steal is an alternative), and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force".

In other words a robbery can only occur where there has been a theft but the person suffering the theft need not be the person who is threatened or assaulted. A robbery would be committed where a robber attempts to steal from a jewellers shop but threatens a customer not the jeweller in order to commit the theft. By the same token the threats must be live. For example, if a person was threatened with being assaulted the following day it is likely that no offence of robbery would be committed - although the perpetrator wouldn't get clean away as (in English law) he would have committed the offence of blackmail.

External links

• Largest British robbery