Armed crime doesn't pay, at least not that much

Photo / Alan Gibson

CANBERRA - Armed robbery is a surprisingly unprofitable activity with almost a third of robbers escaping with nothing at all and just a handful hitting the big time, a new study reveals.

The survey of armed robberies conducted in 2007 shows the average haul was A$1066 ($1313) but most got much less.

The results were skewed by a small number of high-yield robberies, with one street heist netting A$125,000.

The average bank or financial institution haul was A$18,091, conducted somewhat surprisingly by robbers with knives. Robbers with guns took an average haul of A$11,237 from these institutions.

The study was conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology through the National Armed Robbery Monitoring Programme, which began in 2003.

It revealed there were 7133 robbery victims in 6086 incidents in 2007, a decline of 427 victims on 2006 and significantly down on the 8865 in 2003, the first year of the study. Victims include individuals (5281) and organisations such as banks and shops.

Overall, most robberies occur in public areas and fall into the category of muggings. Most victims are aged under 30 and predominantly male.

Four per cent of robbery victims suffered serious injury and 51 per cent experienced emotional trauma.

Although this is described as armed robbery, firearms were used in only 16 per cent of offences while knives were used in 47 per cent.

The study concluded that general robbery characteristics had not changed markedly in the five years that data has been collected.

- AAP