Public Attitude toward the “Bookie Robbery”
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587801100103 |
| Published date | 01 March 1978 |
| Date | 01 March 1978 |
AUST &NZ
JOURNAL
OF
CRIMINOLOGY
(March 1978) 11 (7-12)
PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE
"BOOKIE ROBBERY"
Barry LRichardson"
and
Dianne BWuillemin"
7
Introduction
The
survey
reported
here was designed to estimate public
attitude
towards a
robbery
which
took
place at the Victoria
Club
in Melbourne on 21 April 1976.
The
primary
purpose
of the survey was to determine
the
percentage
of
metropolitan Melbourne
people
who
hoped
that
the
robbers
would
escape.
The
secondary aim
was
to gather information
about
possible reasons that
people
might have for "supporting" acrime of this nature.
Method
Survey respondents
and
interoiewers
Atotal of 959
people
responded
to
the
survey questions which
were
asked by
24 volunteer students enrolled in a course in Applied Psychology at the Caulfield
Institute of Technology, Melbourne.
Questions and Procedure
The
interviewers
were
briefed at noon on Monday 26 April
and
were
each
instructed to interview 40
people
between
the
end
of the briefing session
and
12
noon on
Wednesday
28 April.
Each
interviewer was assigned to one
of
24 locations within a5-mile radius of
the city centre.
The
circle so described was divided into 8 sectors (see appendix
for details). Interviewers
were
instructed to seek respondents in private houses,
shops, factories, on the street or
anywhere
within "eye-sight"
of
the street
intersection to which they
had
been
allocated. Rationale for
the
relative
non-specificity of these instructions is
included
in the discussion section.
Interviewers
were
provided
with an envelope, 80 slips of
paper
(40 with
"No"
printed on
them
and
40 with "Yes")
and
an instruction sheet which
read:-
Begin with: "Excuse me
Sir/Madam,
we're
running asurvey of
public
opinion
about
the
robbery
in
which
over
1 million dollars was stolen from the Victoria
Club
last week -
did
you
hear
about
this
robbery?"
(If the
answer
is "No" say "Thank you for
your
co-operation"
and
try
someone else. If
"Yes" continue with:)
"One
of these slips of
paper
has "Yes" on
it
and
the
other
has "No". If you
hope
the
robbers
are
caught
would
you please
put
the slip with "Yes" on it in this envelope. If you
hope
that they are not
caught
put
the
other
slip which has
"No"
on it in the envelope. No
one
will
know
which way you voted. Please dispose of the slip you do not
put
in the envelope."
The
instruction sheet then
required
interviewers to say
"There
are
some
people
who
would
like to see the
robbers
escape. Why do you think this is?"
Answers were,
where
possible, assigned to one' or
more
numbered
categories
according to
whether
or
not
they contained reference to:
(1) Absence of serious physical harm.
(2)
The
people
from
whom
the
money
was taken (viz "bookies").
•
Department
of Applied Psychology, Caulfield Institute of Technology, Melbourne Vic.
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