ABSTRACT
Explaining the pathway into property crime is extremely complicated and requires a consideration of a wide range of factors. This chapter explores both factors that have an immediate impact on behaviour (so-called proximal factors) as well as factors that won't impact on behaviour for months or even years (distal factors). Utilising seminal theories from psychology, developmental life-course criminology, and sociology, this chapter highlights how early life can lay the foundations for later property crime offending (distal factors). Furthermore, this chapter explores how more ‘immediate’ factors such as peer pressure and a desire for money or revenge can motivate property offending (proximal factors). In doing so, this chapter draws on a range of theoretical and empirical work, as well as offender testimonies and case examples from a variety of property offences.
