[7] "Home-invasion robberies" were highlighted in June 1995, when the term appeared in the cover story of The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin in an article written by Police Chief James T. Hurley[8] of the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, area, later republished on bNet, the online blog posted by Harvard Business School.
Hurley posited that, at the time, the crime could be considered an alternative to bank or convenience store robberies, which were becoming more difficult to carry out due to technological advances in security.
[12][13] Home invasion differs from burglary in that its perpetrators have a violent intent apart from the unlawful entry itself, specific or general, much the same way as aggravated robbery—personally taking from someone by force—is differentiated from mere larceny (theft alone).
Many U.S. states (particularly those that endorse the castle doctrine) include defending oneself against forcible entry of one's home as part of their definition of justifiable homicide without any obligation to retreat.
[30] One well-known home invasion is the November 15, 1959, quadruple murder of the Clutter family by Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith during a home-invasion robbery in rural Holcomb, Kansas.
The Night Stalker – A series of home invasion murders, rapes, and robberies plagued the Los Angeles, California area in the mid-1980s.
[33][34] Mr Cruel – An Australian paedophilic serial rapist who entered houses and attacked three girls in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
[35] Wichita Massacre – brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr entered a house in December 2000, robbed the five residents, forced them into sex with each other and the attackers and then drove them to a snowy soccer field to be shot execution-style.
[37] The first defendant, Steven Hayes, was found guilty of 16 of 17 counts including capital murder on October 5, 2010, and on November 8, 2010, was sentenced to death.
[40] Three men in Louisville, Kentucky were charged for the April 20, 2017 home invasion at Mallard Crossing of record producer Jonathan Hay and his teenage daughter.