A Review of Weapon Choice in Violent and Sexual Crime
Introduction
Weapon use in sexual and violent offences is a key consideration for police agencies and governments alike (Home Office, 2011). For the current paper, a weapon is defined as “an object used to cause or threaten injury to another”. Prevalence data pertaining to weapon enabled crime exists for England and Wales through Home Office statistical releases utilising both public survey and police statistics. For example, in the year ending March 2012, 51 per cent of attempted murders, 22 per cent of robberies, and one percent of rapes involved a knife or sharp instrument (ONS, 2012). Prevalence data is collected in many countries (Catalano, 2005; Home Office, 2011; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004) and is valuable for understanding trends, developing policies or preventative strategies and the like. However, it reveals little on the motivations or whether weapon type has the ability to differentiate between offenders. The question at hand is...