Bank robbery

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A masked man threatens a bank employee in this 1931 photo

Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank while bank employees, and usually bystanders, are subjected to force, violence or the threat of violence. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear."[1] By contrast, burglary is defined as, "unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft."[2] Bank robbery is therefore defined as entering a bank when it is open and obtaining money either by using force or the threat of force. Breaking into a bank when it is closed is burglary.



Bank robbery occurs most frequently in cities and large towns. This concentration is often attributed to there being more branches in urban areas, but the number of bank robberies is disproportionately higher than the number of branches. In Canada, for example, seven cities have 30% of all bank branches but 66% of all bank robberies; in the United Kingdom, London has 10% of the nation's branches but 39% of its bank robberies.[citation needed]

This has advantages both for bank robbers and for the law enforcement community. Being in urban areas the transportation infrastructure is more highly developed, especially where banks tend to cluster near to retail shopping areas and commercial districts. Such banks are highly profitable targets for bank robbers who are then afforded a number of potential escape routes. The law enforcement community benefit by being able to respond more quickly, and the likelihood of catching a bank robber on or near the scene is higher than for other types of crime. This is because most bank robberies are reported very quickly, frequently while the crime is in progress; most bank robberies occur during daylight hours, have multiple witnesses and with modern technology often produce photographic images that can be distributed and used immediately to canvass the local area. Consequently, many robbers are caught the same day. In fact, the clearance rate for bank robbery is among the highest of all crimes, at nearly 60%.[citation needed]

The urban locations of the crime also contributes to its repeat victimization profile, a measure of how quickly a crime victim will suffer a repeat of the original crime. One study carried out by the Home Office found that in England, one third of banks at which a robbery has occurred will be robbed again within three months, while the same study found that in Tallahassee, Florida, one quarter of robbed banks will suffer repeat robbery within a week, and over half of robbed banks will be robbed again within a month.[3]


The Australian Institute of Criminology analyzed trends in bank robbery over a four-year period. Of the 808 bank robbery incidents between January 1998 and May 2002 in which the number of offenders involved in the hold-up was recorded, 55% were committed by lone offenders, 25% by pairs, and 20% by three or more robbers. Unarmed lone offenders accounted for 28% of robberies, caused the fewest number of injuries to victims (one percent of all victims' injuries), were the type of robber who most often used a note to threaten bank staff (46% of all their robberies), and failed most often in their robbery attempts (33% failure). Unarmed gangs inflicted the most injuries to victims (51%) and failed the least in their robbery attempts (6% failure). Armed robbers used a disguise more often compared to unarmed robbers, with armed pairs employing disguises most often (59%).[4]

According to the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics injuries occur in about two percent and a death occurs in less than one percent of all U.S. bank robberies.[5][6] Violent takeover bank robberies that are often portrayed in the media are rare. The majority of bank robberies taking place today are so called "note jobs." These are usually accomplished by simply passing a written note to the teller demanding money. The idea is to attract as little attention as possible. In most cases, other customers present in the bank during such a robbery are unaware of what is occurring. Standard bank policy is to avoid violence as much as possible, so they will normally hand over the money and try to adhere to the robber's demands. The robber usually makes away with cash, but typically in relatively small amounts. According to British Bankers' Association data, in 2007 there were 106 attempted or successful robberies in Britain which an average of 1.6 persons involved. One third of attempts came up empty while the average haul for a successful attempt was equivalent to 46,600 USD. 20% of the successes would later prove less than successful by virtue of the robbers being arrested.[7]


Patty Hearst takes part in the April 1974 Hibernia Bank raid with other SLA members

The first bank robbery in the United States is often claimed to have taken place at the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, on 13 February 1866 when several men believed to be members of the James-Younger Gang shot a 19-year-old student and escaped with $60,000. This is also claimed (including by the museum established at the bank where it happened) as the first bank robbery in daylight in peacetime,[8] to distinguish it from robberies such as that from the banks at St Albans, Vermont more than a year earlier which were perpetrated by Confederate soldiers and which some historians consider to be not robberies proper but acts of war.[9]

However, twenty-five months earlier, just before noon on 15 December 1863 a man walked into a bank in Middlesex County, Massachusetts and shot the 17-year-old bookkeeper and stole $3,000 in large bills and $2,000 in small bills. The directors of the bank offered a $6,000 reward for the arrest of the murderer.[10]

An even earlier alleged bank robbery is known to have occurred, but details are few. According to The New York Times, the first bank robbery in United States history took place on 19 March 1831, when the City Bank of New York lost $245,000, but the exact method is not clear so it cannot be confirmed that this was a robbery and not a burglary.[11]

First known use of a getaway car[edit]

The 21 December 1911 edition of L'Auto, a popular Paris newspaper, carried an announcement on its front page that a man was offering a reward for information leading to the recovery of his limousine. The same day, two armed men intercepted a bank messenger outside a branch of Société Générale in Paris and took a satchel of money he was about to deliver to the bank.[12]

Historical bank robbers[edit]

Jesse James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was one of the most notorious bank robbers in American history.

John Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was another famous bank robber, who robbed banks in mid-western America. Some considered him a dangerous criminal, while others idolized him as a supposed present-day Robin Hood. He gained this latter reputation (and the nickname "Jackrabbit") for his graceful movements during bank heists, such as leaping over the counter (a movement he supposedly copied from the movies) and many narrow getaways from police. On 22 July 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, Dillinger was cornered by FBI agents in an alley outside of a movie theater, where he was shot and killed by multiple agents.

In the early twentieth century Willie Sutton (June 30, 1901 - November 2, 1980) was asked why he robbed banks, and he was famously reported as answering: "Because that's where the money is." This is, in fact, a quote invented by the interviewer to make the story more interesting.[13]


Expended dye pack after a Los Angeles area Bank of America robbery, January 2, 2008. This particular pack was concealed inside a stack of twenty dollar bills.

Banks have implemented modern security measures, like motion-sensing and high resolution color security cameras, time-locked heavy vault doors, silent alarms, exploding dye packs, bait money and locator devices. Some banks supplement this protection with armed or unarmed security guards.[14]

Today's biometric technology makes non-violent methods of gaining access, even by the most experienced safe hackers and code crackers, nearly impossible. Modern vaults and safes are also reinforced to the point that the amount of explosives needed to blow them open would likely create unwanted attention and run the risk of harming the building to the point of collapse. By their very nature, even the most impregnable vault or safe eventually needs to be able to be opened and closed by someone. To circumvent vault and safe security features, robbers often kidnap the bank manager, but that is not always a successful workaround as banks have often removed the manager's ability to open the vault.

The police have new measures at their disposal to catch bank robbers, such as well-armed SWAT teams. Forensic identification techniques have also improved greatly; should a bank robber fire a gun, the police can trace the bullet to the exact firearm using ballistic fingerprinting. Martin Kemp, in a BBC documentary, once inquired on the effectiveness of an Uzi in a bank robbery, to which the firearms training instructor joked "that would be sixty-four pieces of evidence to convict you." The sawed-off shotgun, a common robbery weapon in United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand where handguns are difficult to obtain, is easily concealable but not particularly effective.

While it is likely but not certain that the first time someone robs a bank they will not be caught, it is highly likely that if they continue they will be caught[citation needed]. Few criminals are able to make a successful living out of bank robbery over the long run. Bank robberies are still fairly common and are indeed successful, although eventually many bank robbers are found and arrested. A report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation[15] states that, among Category I serious crimes, the arrest rate for bank robbery in 2001 was second only to that of murder. Today most organized crime groups tend to make their money by other means, such as extortion, drug trafficking, gambling, Prostitution, loan sharking, identity theft, or online scamming and phishing.

A further factor making bank robbery unattractive for criminals in the United States is the severity with which it is prosecuted. Accounts at all U.S. banks are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a corporation of the federal government, bringing bank robbery under federal jurisdiction and involving the FBI. United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines for bank robbery mandate long prison terms, which are usually further enhanced by the use or carrying of loaded firearms, prior criminal convictions, and the absence of parole from the federal prison system. As with any type of robbery, the fact that bank robbery is also inherently a violent crime typically causes corrections administrators to place imprisoned bank robbers in harsher high-security institutions.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ FBI bank Robbery[dead link]
  2. ^ FBI definition of Burglary[dead link]
  3. ^ Home Office study, United Kingdom Home Office
  4. ^ Australian Institute of Criminology[dead link]
  5. ^ "Pastore, Ann L. and Kathleen Maguire, eds.: Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, Table 3.151.2008" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-28. 
  6. ^ "Pastore, Ann L. and Kathleen Maguire, eds.: Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, Table 3.149.2008" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-28. 
  7. ^ Barry Reilly, Neil Rickman, Robert Witt, Robbing Banks: Crime does pay - but not very much Significance Volume 9, Issue 3, pages 17–21, June 2012
  8. ^ "Kansas City Tourist Office". Retrieved 2012-03-28. 
  9. ^ Jesse James Was His Name, by William A Settle Jr. Retrieved 2012-03-28. 
  10. ^ "New York Times, 16 Dec-1863". 1863-12-16. Retrieved 2012-03-28. 
  11. ^ New York Times, 19 March 2010 Today In History
  12. ^ "The Bonnot Gang by Richard Parry". 2001-03-10. Retrieved 2012-03-28. 
  13. ^ Willie Sutton[dead link]
  14. ^ "Design of a GPS/GSM currency tracker device" (PDF). Inside GNSS. Retrieved 2012-03-28. 
  15. ^ Bank Robbery in the United States[dead link]

External links[edit]