Cost of Crime, Part One: Burglary, Larceny and Theft

According to the Associated Press, legal definitions of burglary vary, but in general a burglary involves entering a building (not necessarily by breaking in) and remaining there unlawfully with the intention of committing a crime.

Larceny is the legal term for the wrongful taking of property. Its nonlegal equivalents are stealing or theft.

The University of Richmond Police Department does not necessarily abide by those definitions when it disseminates accounts of crime, but since, for the purpose of this analysis, all crimes described as "Burglary," "Larceny" and "Theft" by URPD are grouped as one, the differences in the nature and function between the three are unimportant.

The study harnesses data from "Police Reports" published in The Collegian, spanning Aug. 28, 2008, to March 25, 2010. These are supplied to The Collegian by the URPD and are accessible at http://www.thecollegianur.com/topics/police-report/.

Key ideas for the reader to bear in mind while viewing the analysis:

1. All monetary amounts are courtesy of URPD. In rare cases where no amounts were provided, estimates were made by averaging all other similar crimes.

2. The analysis does not count instances of burglary, larceny and theft, but the monetary losses resulting from burglary, larceny and theft.

3. Assets stolen that were owned by the University have their own category, namely "School Assets." All other categories represent monetary losses of private individuals.

4. The analysis does not include losses from crimes described as "vandalism" by URPD.

5. The analysis records losses from theft even in cases where property is recovered.

Contact staff writer Tanveer Ahmed at tanveer.ahmed@richmond.edu