Burglary is a high-volume crime, affecting around one in twenty-five households annually. In 1998 the Home Office launched a major crime reduction programme in England and Wales with a key element focussing on the reduction of burglary. It was hoped that this would discover the key element in reducing domestic burglary. So far, however, research has failed to determine the reasons for beginning and pursuing a career in burglary. This article attempt to provide a portfolio of the potential factors that could cause an individual to turn to property crime. It is important to look at these factors not as individual elements but as a framework of potential risk. A framework designed by Clarke (1977) is used to do this.
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