Samenvatting

In recent years the total number of violent robberies in the Netherlands has gone down sharply, but the number of robberies on private homes doesn’t decline. Especially robberies on private homes of the elderly are notorious for the level of violence used by the attackers, while the loot is often negligible. In this article the authors investigate this offense. Chances of becoming a victim are very small, but people who are robbed in their own homes often face severe violence. On the one hand these high violence levels and consequential injuries are related to the age of the victims: the elderly resist the attackers more than younger people do, and because of their age they are more vulnerable to physical attacks. On the other hand the high levels of violence are typical of (all) robberies on private homes: the unknown space and the unpredictable behavior of residents contribute to this. Most of these robberies are poorly planned and executed. This also explains why so many of these incidents turn nasty. The elderly are not specially targeted, the reasons they are robbed do not differ from other robberies on private homes: the attackers expect an easy accessible and substantial loot. In many cases both assumptions turn out to be wrong. Risk factors and prevention options are discussed.