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superstition, including the famous
Pharaoh's Curse on anyone who dis–
turbed a royal grave. Islamic law
demands lhat the hand of a thief be
cut off-as is slill done in the stríctest
Moslem countríes- yel theft goes
on. At the time of the American
Revolution, Englísh law lisled 200
separate offenses that merited the
death penalty, most of them related
to sorne sort of theft, and yet pick–
pockets fieeced their víctims in the
shadows of the gallows where other
pickpockets were hanged. While
burglaries fluctuate in times and
cultures, few nations have ever been
críme-free. Sorne sociologists argue
that rampant crime indicates a
weakening of respect for law that
presages the downfall of a nation.
Others cite-perhaps too often
- what they consider the miti–
gating psychological fact-ors that
lead people to become thieves.
Basically, in America at least,
people become thieves because it's
an easy way lo make a lucrative
living. Professional thieves, while
comparatively rare, realize tha t they
run no more risk of being appre–
hended than they do of being killed
or seriously injured in an automo–
bile accident. And just as most
people drive, even though they
know it's dangerous. the thief steals.
even though he knows it's dan–
gerous-at least mildly so.
Amateurs and Juveniles
Few burglaries against the average
homeowner, however, are carried
out by professional thieves. Recent
statistics show that the average bur–
glar is not only an amateur, but a
very young amateur. Half of all bur–
glaries are committed by juve–
niles- boys. or somet imes girls,
under 18 years of age. Many of
these youngsters a re under 16,
which means that in sorne places the
courts are basically powerless.
Broadly speaking, the juveníle jus–
tice system is based on the era of
small towns and pious Víctorían
parents who took their children out
to the woodshed for such offenses as
smoking or filching apples and
pears. The courts are not prepared
to deal wíth undísciplined children
from broken bornes, or offspríng of
parents who may ignore or even en–
courage criminal behavior.
12
Vou should
ensure that your fron t
door is well-lighted,
so that a
person standing at the
front door is easily
seen from the road.
Added to this army of Iegally in–
vulnerable juvenile offenders, there
looms a second group of burglars
even more menacing: America's es–
timated 400,000 heroín addícts. all
of whom need far more money than
they can ever hope lo earn at legiti–
mate work. Sorne cr im inologists
think that half of all the burglaries
in the United States are committed
by drug addicts. While juveniles are
bold through ignorance, junkies are
brash through desperation. One
burglar/addict who supplied infor–
mation for the authors' book
Bur-
glarproof' A Complete Guide to
Home Security
described stealing
portable TV sets "while the people
were still watching them." He would
prowl through housing devel–
opments on hot summer evenings.
look for homes with screendoors or
with doors open, charge into the liv–
ing quarters, seize the TV set and
run off into the night before the vic–
tims had a chance to react.
Not every thief is this brave- or
lhis crazy. But many addicts are so
desperate to maintain their habits,
which cost them $100 and up per
day, that they wiU take risks that
would seem heroic if undertaken in
a better cause than slow self-de–
struction through drugs.
Speaking generally, the rare pro–
fessional thief, while much more
highly skilled, is far less dangerous
to life and limb than the amateur.
who is probably either a juvenile or
a drug addict, or possibly both. The
professiona l usually limits his
c r imes to targets of known
worth- warehouses, art museums,
and the haunts of the very
rich-while the amateur usually
steals from inner-city dwellers or
suburban homeowners.
Make House Unattractive Target
The key to dealing with the com–
mon amateur thief is to understand
that he is not highly sk illed or
highly mot ivated to break into your
house or apartment in particular. If
you can make your house unattrac–
tive to him psychologically, he may
not approach it at all. And if you
can stop him at the front or back
door for one to two minutes- that's
just 60 to 120 seconds- he may very
well give up right there and head
elsewhere.
Making your house psychologi–
cally unattractive to the burglar
doesn't mean having an ugly or re–
pulsive house; it means making the
house look like the sort of place
where he's more apt to get caught
than to get rich q uick.
One of the best ways to do this is
landscaping to prevent break and
!
entry. Your shrubbery should be
~
kept pruned, summer as well as win-
!!
ter, to offer anybody cruising by on
~
the nearest road, especially the po-
.g
lice, a clear view of the front door,
~
and, if at all possible, of the back or
~
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 197-8