Definitions of robbery
Robbery is defined in the Theft Act 1968 as follows:
A person is guilty of robbery if he steals, and immediately before or at the time of doing so, and in order to do so, he uses force on any person, or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then and there subjected to force
The definition of personal robbery in the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) is:
The use or threat of force in a theft from the person should be recorded as a robbery. For example, if the victim or a third party offers any resistance, or if anyone is assaulted in any way, then this constitutes force. Similarly, if a victim is under any impression from the offender's words or actions that the offender may use force, then this constitutes threat of force.
HOCR distinguish between personal robbery and business robbery as follows:
It becomes personal robbery (rather than business robbery) in the following circumstances
A robbery where the goods stolen belong to an individual or group of individuals, rather than a corporate body, regardless of the location of the robbery, or whether the personal property actually belongs to the person being robbed.
There is also a need to differentiate between different types of street crime. A variety of terminology is used here.
HOCR define theft from the person as:
A theft without the use or threat of force should be recorded as a theft from the person if one of the following circumstances applies at the time of the theft:
i) The goods stolen were being worn by the victim;
ii) The goods stolen were physically attached in some way to the victim, or carried by the victim;
iii) The goods stolen were contained in an article of clothing being worn by the victim
Snatch theft is defined as where:
The property is stolen from the physical possession of the victim and some degree of force is directed to the property but not to the victim (for example a bag snatched from the hand or shoulder of the victim or phone snatched from the hand)
The definition is presumably intended to discriminate between this type of theft and pickpocketing.
They also define street crime as the combination of personal robbery and snatch theft.
In the British Crime Survey, mugging is comprised of snatch theft, robbery and attempted robbery.
Data sources
The nature of personal robbery" Jonathan Smith, Home Office Research Study 254 
PDF 260Kb
Problem-solving street crime: practical lessons from the Street Crime Initiative
Tackling personal robbery: lessons learnt from the police and community partnerships PDF 260Kb
Last update: Tuesday, February 24, 2009