Robbery

In Canada, the Criminal Code makes robbery an indictable offence, subject to a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

In R v Robinson[7] the defendant threatened the victim with a knife in order to recover money which he was actually owed.

His conviction for robbery was quashed on the basis that Robinson had an honest, although unreasonable, belief (under Section 2(1)(a) of the Act) in his legal right to the money.

In R v Hale (1978)[8] the application of force and the stealing took place in many different locations, and it was not possible to establish the timing; it was held that the appropriation necessary to prove theft was a continuing act, and the jury could correctly convict of robbery.

It was argued that the theft should be regarded as complete by this time, and R v Gomez (1993),[10] should apply; the court disagreed, preferring to follow R v Hale.

[13] It was held in R v Dawson and James (1978)[14] that "force" is an ordinary English word and its meaning should be left to the jury.

[18] Theft accompanied by a threat to damage property will not constitute robbery, but it may disclose an offence of blackmail.

[19] Under current sentencing guidelines, the punishment for robbery is affected by a variety of aggravating and mitigating factors.

Only a low-harm, low-culpability robbery with other mitigating factors would result in an alternative punishment, in the form of a high level community order.

Matthew Hale provided the following definition: Robbery is the felonious and violent taking of any money or goods from the person of another, putting him in fear, be the value thereof above or under one shilling.

Section 23 of the Larceny Act 1916 read: 23.-(1) Every person who - shall be guilty of felony and on conviction thereof liable to penal servitude for life, and, in addition, if a male, to be once privately whipped.

(3) Every person who assaults any person with intent to rob shall be guilty of felony and on conviction thereof liable to penal servitude for any term not exceeding five years.This section provided maximum penalties for a number of offences of robbery and aggravated robbery.

[21] Assault with intent to rob is also subject to the mandatory sentencing regime under the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

In the United States, robbery is generally treated as an aggravated form of common law larceny.

[citation needed] For robbery the victim must be placed in "fear" of immediate harm by threat or intimidation.

The theft is considered completed when the perpetrator reaches a place of temporary safety with the property.

[29] The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime notes "that when using the figures, any cross-national comparisons should be conducted with caution because of the differences that exist between the legal definitions of offences in countries, or the different methods of offence counting and recording".

[30][31] Robberies have been depicted, sometimes graphically, in various forms of media, and several robbers have become pop icons, such as Bonnie and Clyde and John Dillinger.