Mugging

Mugging (sometimes called personal robbery or street robbery) is a form of <a href="/facts/Robbery/lWAlNkRS">robbery</a> and <a href="/facts/Street_crime/vxMyMd5b">street crime</a> that occurs in public places, often urban areas at night. It involves a <a href="/facts/Confrontation/ahV4RFny">confrontation</a> with a threat of violence. Muggers steal money or <a href="/facts/Personal_property/Cd6YS3U3">personal property</a>, which is worth less than the payouts of commercial robbery but involves less time and planning. They may be motivated by money, <a href="/facts/Cultural_capital/qYkQKoUo">cultural capital</a>, or the thrill of the act. The risk of property loss, injury, or <a href="/facts/Psychological_trauma/7UMnzzBy">psychological trauma</a> causes people to fear becoming victims of mugging. Mugging has frequently been the subject of <a href="/facts/Racialized/xuKb9BhU">racialized</a> narratives about Black people.
The concept of mugging originated in 1940s United States, when <a href="/facts/Blackout_(wartime)/mxXIz2HQ">blackouts</a> of <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> enabled committing crimes in the dark. It soon became the subject of <a href="/facts/Anti-Black_racism/KRaRQqRq">anti-Black racism</a>. In the United Kingdom, a media wave about mugging occurred in the 1970s, before which the concept had not been applied to British crimes. Police departments created "anti-mugging" units. The crime was often committed by <a href="/facts/West_Indian/vwmEAQyq">West Indian</a> youths, and there were widespread <a href="/facts/Racial_stereotype/gRhbghH6">racial stereotypes</a> associating it with Black people. Some leftist criminologists said that the media inaccurately reported a <a href="/facts/Crime/BfoRzbL3">crime wave</a> of mugging, including <a href="/facts/Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist)/qPhT3wfB">Stuart Hall</a>, who called it a <a href="/facts/Moral_panic/IkKVIeRY">moral panic</a>. Political debate of mugging in the country peaked in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Brazilian media reported a mass mugging phenomenon known as arrastão, a term later used in Portugal.

Mugging open-in-new

Mugging