Objectives

The study examines the development of offence-related expertise over time and age in a sample of convicted burglars.

Methods

A quasi-experimental design was used to assess indicators of expertise in younger (n=36) and older (n=32) burglars as they completed a “virtual burglary”. It was predicted that (i) older burglars would use more efficient scoping and searching strategies than younger burglars, and (ii) older burglars would be more discerning in their selection of items to steal than younger burglars.

Results

Findings suggested that indicators of expertise were evident in both age groups however, compared to younger burglars, older burglars demonstrated more developed expertise in relation to items stolen and the efficiency of the search.

Conclusions

The research supports the role that expertise plays in offence-related decision-making across the criminal career. It provides additional support for the use of VR to assess offender expertise.

中文翻译：

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进行虚拟入室盗窃的年轻窃贼和老年窃贼的比较：技能和自动化的发展

目标

该研究调查了被定罪的窃贼样本随时间和年龄的变化，与犯罪相关的专业知识的发展情况。

方法

采用准实验设计来评估年轻窃贼（n = 36）和老年窃贼（n = 32）完成“虚拟入室盗窃”时的专业知识指标。据预测，(i) 年长的窃贼会比年轻的窃贼使用更有效的范围和搜索策略，(ii) 年长的窃贼在选择盗窃物品时会比年轻的窃贼更有洞察力。

结果

调查结果表明，两个年龄组的专业知识指标都很明显，但与年轻的窃贼相比，年长的窃贼在被盗物品和搜查效率方面表现出更成熟的专业知识。

结论

该研究支持专业知识在整个犯罪生涯中与犯罪相关的决策中所发挥的作用。它为使用 VR 评估罪犯的专业知识提供了额外的支持。