What Is the Difference Between a Robbery & a Burglary?

Robbery Definition

• Robbery is defined as theft committed with threat of violence. This is usually interpreted to mean some kind of weapon was used to overcome the victim's ability to resist. Neither premeditation nor deliberation is necessary to prove that the crime of robbery has been committed. Only momentary possession of the stolen property is required to constitute burglary, even if the property is abandoned later.
  
  

Other Legal Features

• Robbery requires the actual taking of the property from the possession from the victim. The property must have been sufficiently under the control of the victim so that he could have prevented the crime had there not been intimidation or the threat of violence. The property taken must have some value, no matter how small.
  
  

Burglary Legal Definition

• Burglary involves the breaking and entering of an enclosed structure for the purpose of committing a crime. It does not necessarily have to be for the purpose of theft. The purpose can be assault or sexual harassment, and it does not even require that the intended crime be committed, only that is was intended to be committed.
  
  

Burglary Legal Features

• The legal definition of burglary once meant the crime had to be done at night and only in dwellings. Burglary includes the legal concept of trespass, that is, that entry is accomplished without the consent of the owner. Breaking is an additional requirement, which is gaining access by making a hole or entry which was not originally intended. If a door or window is open, burglary cannot be committed. If those entrance ways are partially open, and are opened wider, then the "breaking" requirement of the crime has been met. Another feature that constitutes burglary is "entering," the actual act of physical intrusion onto the property.
  
  

Degrees of the Crimes

• Most statutes distinguish between simple robbery and aggravated robbery that involves the use of a weapon. Punishment for robbery is usually imprisonment, with the length of sentence determined by what was robbed and the criminal's record. Burglars can be charged with different degrees of the crime depending on whether a weapon or force was used or someone was injured. Imprisonment is the usual punishment for burglary.