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Mugging (also known as assault) is a type of assault, in which the perpetrator (the mugger) accosts the victim in a public place and assaults the victim. The assailant will typically threaten to use a weapon such as a gun or knife.

Contents 1 The crime of mugging and its history 2 Risk factors for victimization 3 Mugger Modus Operandi 4 Victim countermeasures 5 Law enforcement abatement strategies 6 Criminal prosecution 7 Popular culture 8 References

The term 'mugging' gained its current popularity in the United States, with New York infamously described in the 1970s as 'the mugging capital of America'. However, the crime is as old as history and among other things has been known as highway robbery, purse-snatching, or footpadding (which could be surreptitious or violent). In Victorian times the targets were wallets and gold watches, but in the US there was a big increase in reported street robberies and handbag snatches from the 1960s onwards as new consumer items became popular. In England the fashion for mugging either arose or gained popularity through many social factors in the late seventies and eighties, and became a cultural phenomenon among some urban youths. In some cultures, there was perceived to be a growing tendency for young males to steal from other young males. The principal targets became valuable and popular accessories like portable audio devices, cameras, laptop computers, mobile phones, and other items that can be quickly and easily resold. Excitement, status, and gang initiation are undoubtedly important motives too. In larger United States cities and in the United Kingdom, the news media report and cover muggings as a crime trend, and some observers blamed the news media for a moral panic in England from the early 1970s at a time when “newspaper reporting of mugging(s) emerged and became increasingly sensational”^[1] Nonetheless, as recorded crime statistics, insurance claims, and national crime surveys all show, street robberies remained a growing problem until they peaked at about the turn of the millennium.

Such robberies can involve the threat and/or use of weapons and/or violence. Most mugging victims are uninjured or suffer minor injuries. However, in some cases victims die from heart attack or stroke when they struggle with assailants,^{[citation needed]} through falling from moving buses or under vehicles, being knocked to the ground and hitting their heads on the sidewalk, being stabbed with edged weapons or shot with firearms, or beaten with blunt force. More frequently than death, mugging victims sustain lifetime dermatological scarring, facial, cranial, and maxillofacial trauma as well as orthopedic injuries which affect some level of disability, and impact labor and life activities.^{[citation needed]}

• Conspicuous display by sidewalk pedestrians of resellable consumer items or indications thereof such as white iPod headphones.
• Preoccupation of sidewalk pedestrians by certain activities such as talking on a mobile phone. This activity is seen as a particular risk factor because the victim is distracted by the conversation, typically has compromised hearing and peripheral vision, and is conspicuously displaying a resellable item that can be quickly and easily converted to cash.

Some muggers operate alone. Others work sidewalks as a group of assailants, that many refer to as a wolf-pack^{[citation needed]} due to the similarities to canine behavior and hunting technique. The wolf-pack technique serves multiple purposes. At the moment of the incident the presence of multiple assailants first deters a solo victim from physically retaliating. Several wolf-pack muggers dressed substantially similar can confuse a victim from making proper suspect identification at a police lineup if the perpetrators are arrested. Following the incident, several wolf-pack muggers dressed substantially similar can also split up stolen merchandise and travel in different directions following their crimes to avoid police identification and arrest.

In many United States cities, muggers wear disguises integrated into clothing and accessories, such as hooded sweatshirts or hoodies. Others wear gradient lens glasses or stunner shades as a nighttime fashion accessory. Caps, and hats also serve as a change of disguise. As of 2006 and 2007, ski masks and balaclavas are making a comeback as a popular fashion accessory in some circles.^{[citation needed]} As a basic operations technique, muggers attempt to blend into their surroundings as much as possible to avoid police detection following their crimes. To this extent many wear the local clothing style de-jour. To the extent to which most other persons in their age group wear jeans, the mugger will also wear jeans, if most others wear white t-shirts and caps, the mugger will also wear such clothing to blend in and frustrate efforts to identify them. Most muggers that carry handguns will wear baggy and oversize clothing to avoid their gun "printing" through their clothing. 4XXL and 6XXL T-Shirts are not an uncommon size for a lean young mugger to wear to avoid having a gun print through his clothes. Many muggers will wear large jackets for the large pockets they feature to conceal stolen pocketbooks and other stolen personal items. Backpacks and "shopping" bags can also serve to conceal a purse until it can be ransacked, plundered, and ditched several blocks from the site of the mugging.

Most muggers prefer dark areas as they serve the dual purpose of providing cover so that police and passers by will not notice their crimes. The dark lighting also serves to mitigate the victims ability to observe and remember the mugger for later positive identification. Some muggers will kill their victims if they resist or attempt to resist the mugging.

As self-defense measures, many victims carry powerful whistles, bright flashlights, to call attention to themselves. In some countries, others carry and train to use knives and other edged weapons and concealed handguns, as equalizers against younger, larger, and more physically powerful muggers. Others train in the martial arts to use their bodies as powerful self-defense weapons capable of deadly force if necessary to overcome a mugger. Still others focus on running and sprinting training and wear appropriate running shoes at all times^{[citation needed]} to outrun muggers.

A less recognized choice many make is their place of residence, shopping, and business. They choose to live in a safer area to decrease their risk of being mugged this way. Many also choose a method of transportation that minimizes the possibility of mugging. Many urban dwellers ride bicycles to avoid being mugged while walking among other purposes. Others believe private cars will protect them.^{[citation needed]}

In the United States many law enforcement agencies routinely conduct robbery surveillance operations often involving undercover police officers posing as decoys. In the United Kingdom, surveillance cameras monitoring public areas are more common than in the United States and are in part intended to have a deterrent effect.

In many of the United States, mugging or street robbery is generally legally considered to be the felonious taking of money, personal property, or any other article of value, in the possession of another, from his person, or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear. A person is also generally guilty of robbery if in the course of committing a theft, he inflicts serious bodily injury upon another or threatens another with serious bodily injury.

In many of the United States muggings or street robberies are prosecuted as felonies with penalties of victim restitution and incarceration, with lifetime incarceration, without parole, for the third felony conviction pursuant to the three strikes laws.

• In the film Flower Drum Song, the only part for a caucasian is that of a mugger, symbolizing one aspect of American values.
• The third episode of television series Flight of the Conchords is themed around mugging.

1. ^ Hale, D. (1998). Popular Culture, Crime and Justice. Wadsworth Publishing Company, California.