Feeling Like a Million Dollars: a Grounded Theory Investigation of Preliminary Offence Chains in Aggravated Robbery

Abstract

Grounded theory methodology was used to develop a preliminary descriptive model of offence chains in aggravated robbery, based on 16 offence scripts collected from 15 males incarcerated for aggravated robbery in Wellington, New Zealand, prisons. The first study suggests that positive affect pathways are implicated in some robberies, and that mood management plays a major role in this offending. The model proposes that a commitment to robbery occurs early in the offence chain, and that post-offence phenomena function to perpetuate offending. The model also highlights the role cognitive distortions throughout the offending process. In a second study, four independent raters cross-validated the model, using a second of 16 archival offence scripts. The model was found to generalize to ‘traditional’ robberies, but not to revenge and assault robberies. Implications for theories of violence and property offending are discussed and suggestions for treatment programmes and future research put forward.