SoylentNews

Hugh Pickens writes:

Claire Nee writes in the NYT that for psychologists it’s best to observe actual behavior. Yet for obvious ethical and safety reasons, it’s almost never possible to observe a crime as it happens. To establish “proof of concept,” researchers had to show that experienced ex-burglars would burgle a simulated house the same way they burgled a real house. So they had them actually burgle a house provided by a local police department in a quiet residential area. At the real house, participants wore head-mounted cameras and were asked to start at the front gate, enter the house and burgle it in their own time by touching the items they would take in a real burglary. Then the psychologists observed the ex-burglars commit a mock burglary in a simulated environment that could be navigated using a mouse or a game controller. Items (of value and otherwise) were placed in identical spots in the real house and in the simulated house, and in the latter could be “stolen” by clicking on them.

From previous interviews and experimental studies, burglars had alluded to what is called “dysfunctional expertise” in the way they approach the environment, select their targets and navigate around the property, and it was fascinating to see this unfold in real time. Can security measures help keep a house safe? Not really, according to Nee. "Good security is a deterrent but householders are notoriously bad at actually using the devices they install, so this is rarely a problem for the burglar," she says. "Most burglars will return to a vulnerable neighborhood or street later when they are ready to do the burglary. So they have a lot of competence at choosing properties to burgle and are rarely caught at the scene. Most burglaries are neither impulsive nor heavily planned."

Experienced burglars spent significantly more time in areas of the house with high-value items and navigated it much more systematically than the control subjects did. They also showed greater discernment, by stealing fewer but more valuable items. Most important, all participants burgled the real and the simulated houses almost identically (PDF). The researchers concluded that using simulations can be a robust way to study crime, and in studying it this way, we will not be limited to just burglary. "A better understanding of criminal behavior will help us reduce opportunities for crime in our neighborhoods," concludes Nee. "By knowing what the burglar is looking for — what signals wealth, occupancy, ease of access and security in properties — we can make adjustments in awareness and protection."