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PAUSED for thought? Using verbal protocol analysis to understand the situational and temporal cues in the decision-making of residential burglars

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If headway is ever to be made in dealing with crime, we must access the information that offenders have (Feeney 1986, p. 68).

Just as an architect looking at a house notes its functional, technological, and aesthetic qualities, burglars perceive it in terms of its vulnerability to break-in and potential for gain (Cromwell 1991a, p. 291).

Abstract

Using verbal protocol analysis (VPA) alongside semi-structured interviews, this research aimed to explicate the situational dynamics that inform the decision-making and target selection of residential burglars. Focusing on the VPA method, novel to criminological research, the paper considers the contribution of this empirical approach for studying the decision-making of offenders in situ. The findings reveal a series of cues, encapsulated in the ‘PAUSED’ model, that are drawn upon by residential burglars to assess the suitability of a target; determining whether it is profitable, accessible, uninterruptible, surveillable, escapable and/or dishonourable. The PAUSED model is unpacked to articulate a collection of visual stimuli that serve to disrupt and suspend the otherwise rapid flow of target appraisal. Discussion of the strengths and limitations of the VPA method, and how it can compliment other approaches to understanding the decision-making of residential burglars, is provided.

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, AD Building, Guildford, GU2 7XH, UK

    Emmeline Taylor

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  1. Emmeline Taylor
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Correspondence to Emmeline Taylor.

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Taylor, E. PAUSED for thought? Using verbal protocol analysis to understand the situational and temporal cues in the decision-making of residential burglars. Secur J 31, 343–363 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-017-0104-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-017-0104-3

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