Menu
Sierra12 Defensive Studies Group
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Pictures / Video
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of service Privacy Policy
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Pictures / Video
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of service Privacy Policy

Marked for Mayhem

2/20/2015

Comments

 
By Chuck Hustmyre, Jay Dixit, published on January 1, 2009 - last reviewed on January 29, 2013

Street criminals are selective about their victims. Unfortunately, many of us unwittingly give off signals that mark us as easy targets.

Picture
Midnight in New Orleans. Lisa Z. was walking home from the French Quarter hotel where she works when three men stepped around a corner and stopped in front of her. When she tried to cross the street to get away, the men charged after her. "One guy clotheslined me," she recalls, "then choked me, threw me on the sidewalk, and jammed a chrome, snub-nosed .38 revolver against my cheekbone." Lisa was kicked, robbed, and then told not to move or she'd be shot in the face.

The men who robbed her likely chose Lisa because she unknowingly sent out signals that marked her as a "soft" target. Alone and encumbered by a backpack, she appeared to be a vulnerable person who could be easily controlled. "Some of these guys concentrate on people who are easy to overcome," says Volkan Topalli, a psychologist and criminologist at Georgia State University. "They'll target females, they'll target older people, but they're also looking for cues of weakness or fear."
Picture
Criminals, like their victims, come in all varieties, but researchers have found that they don't choose their victims randomly. There's a reason FBI agents begin crime investigations by creating profiles of victims. It's because the identity of victims—particularly if there are several victims with differing characteristics—helps investigators determine whether a criminal is targeting a specific kind of person or choosing victims opportunistically.

Read More
Comments

    Blog Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    August 2017
    December 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    RSS Feed


    Blog Categories

    All
    Combat Rifle Class
    Cover
    DIY
    Dry Firing
    Firearms
    Gear Review
    Knives
    Marksmanship
    Medical
    Mindset
    Morale Patches
    Night Fighting
    PT
    React To Contact
    Security Patrolling
    Sustainment
    Tactics
    Training

HOME | | CONTACT | STORE | Pictures & Videos | TOS/Privacy