# Have you ever been the victim of crime? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 20, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215 "2015-10-20T04:07:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/21 "2015-10-20T14:49:20Z")
Petty theft out of my (unlocked) car. Someone using my bank card (well, a copy anyway) half a country away. That’s about all I can think of. In the former case, I just replaced my missing MP3 player and wondered what an old Sansa preloaded with terrible music fetches on the deep underground black market these days 😃 In the latter case, the bank quickly resolved it and refunded me my money having figured out that I probably didn’t buy breakfast in Chicago as I do every Sunday and then rush to Atlanta to buy gas a half hour later. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/22 "2015-10-20T14:51:24Z")
Here’s what I can remember –home burglary (no one home) –bike stolen from garage when I was in junior high –forged checks –assault by drunk stranger at a high school party –hit once by my ex wife –car window smashed and radio and misc items taken ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/23 "2015-10-20T14:57:21Z")
Had a generator stolen after a snow storm blew in and we lost our power. Got it back a week later, it was found a week in a pawn shop. Couple years ago had some mail stolen. Didn’t realize it till a month later when I got a call from a sheriff’s office from a county 100 miles away. They busted a couple and found over 3000 pieces of stolen mail in their car. All that effort to get it back to me and it was just junk mail. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/24 "2015-10-20T15:11:37Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Annie’s one tough cookie 😉 Thank you! I know self-defense, and always remember what a cop told me: You have one second to get as angry as you can, and the rest of your life to be scared as hell. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/25 "2015-10-20T15:15:00Z")
> [@tafowler87](#): > > Really nearly everyone has committed a crime in their lifetime. When you take into account the numerous laws that are created annually; the laws already placed under regulation; the diversity of each law; and foreign laws or laws unique to a specific region; and the lack of the knowledge laws in impoverished areas, then it would be ignorant not to think a person could break a law once (even if just for the simple fact of not knowing they were doing so). Do you have a cite for that? I suppose if you include traffic violations like speeding you might get close, toss in failure to recycle maybe you’ll get more, but there a lot of people who can readily avoid committing any crimes at all. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/26 "2015-10-20T15:29:24Z")
A burglary, with a laptop stolen. I was hit by a drunk driver. (Not personally, I was in my car.) Somebody once stole my uniform shirts from a washer at a laundromat. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/27 "2015-10-20T17:07:33Z")
My car was broken into, stereo and every CD that I owned at the time stolen. And I mean every single CD, of which there were hundreds, was in my car. It sucked, but I’ll hand it to my insurance company because they hooked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/28 "2015-10-20T17:08:57Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’ve had sexy chemises stolen out of the public Laundromat twice. :eek: I once had panties stolen at the Laundromat. I didn’t pursue it, but I did wonder about the pervert. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/29 "2015-10-20T17:23:20Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > When I was in high school my house (my parents’ house) got robbed while we were all out at the school play. It was traumatizing. Me nit picking…you were burglarized not robbed… I had the SAME car stolen 3 times…a 1986 Buick Regal with a Saginaw “tilt wheel”. Apparently this is a simple theft using a hammer and a screwdriver. Thankfully the engine blew shortly after the third recovery and the insurance company DID own up to the fact that the thief(s) in their joyriding had run the fuck out of the car. They covered it for Bluebook minus deductible. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/30 "2015-10-20T17:28:16Z")
> [@Jeff Lichtman](#): > > I was on jury duty several years ago. We were given forms with a bunch of questions, one of which was whether we’d ever been the victim of a crime. I said, “Yes.” During the jury selection process, the judge asked people to clarify their answers. It turned out that many people who said “no” to this question actually had been crime victims. The judge said it was common for people to say they hadn’t been victims when they actually had. I don’t know whether people forget, or they think minor crimes aren’t worth considering, or they’re just lying. As I opened this thread, I was all set to answer “no”, but then I remembered the time a burglar entered my apartment while I was asleep, and stole my laptop, which was about a yard from my head at the time. And the second burglary at the same apartment, which prompted me to move. I guess the question automatically made me think of serious, violent crimes like assault or rape. I’ve been fortunate enough never to have been subjected to one of those, so I don’t think of myself as a victim of crime. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/31 "2015-10-20T17:34:49Z")
When I was 8, someone stole my Banana Splits lunchbox out of the backseat of our car. When I was 17, someone stole my 10-speed from outside the school, when I was inside taking my finals. When I was 25 my friend and I were mugged in Lima, Peru. A gang ran up to us, and one of them ripped the necklace right off my friend Dennis’ neck. Of the above, the lunchbox one still bothers me. I really loved that lunchbox. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/32 "2015-10-20T17:45:20Z")
Held up three times working in a convenience store way back in West Texas. Burgled in Honolulu – while I was in the shower! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/33 "2015-10-20T17:49:05Z")
I’ve had a number of things stolen from me. Electronic equipment at work, tools around the house. Generally my fault for not locking things up better. A few weeks ago I went to a restaurant and left the top down on my car. It was right outside the window by where we usually sit but we ended up sitting in a booth on the other side of the restaurant. Somebody took the ashtray out of the car with about $4 in change in it. I didn’t lock the glove compartment, if the idiot had looked there he would have found about $20 in quarters in a bag I keep for car washes and air pumps. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/34 "2015-10-20T17:53:00Z")
- Bikes stolen from garage - Bike stolen from yard - Car windows smashed - Car stereo stolen - Home burgled - Home burgled again soon after (I heard they do this sometimes, they assume that you bought all new stuff to replace the stuff stolen - we hadn’t) - Checks stolen during real estate open house, attempted identity theft - Credit card data stolen in a hack (too numerous to mention, Target, etc.) - Attempted pick-pocket (unsuccessful) - And then there were those times in high school that probably count as sexual assault ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/35 "2015-10-20T18:19:13Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’ve had sexy chemises stolen out of the public Laundromat twice. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Somebody once stole my uniform shirts from a washer at a laundromat. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I once had panties stolen at the Laundromat. Police have issued an APB for a strangely-dressed person in the vicinity of the laundromat. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/36 "2015-10-20T18:35:10Z")
I had my backpack and jacket stolen out of my mother’s car when I was in grade school. They also stole her car stereo, and rather amusingly ejected and left her Helen Reddy cassette tape on the seat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/37 "2015-10-20T18:36:04Z")
> [@ThisSpaceForRent](#): > > Me nit picking…you were burglarized not robbed… How so? > [@](#): > > I had the SAME car stolen 3 times…a 1986 Buick Regal with a Saginaw “tilt wheel”. Apparently this is a simple theft using a hammer and a screwdriver. Thankfully the engine blew shortly after the third recovery and the insurance company DID own up to the fact that the thief(s) in their joyriding had run the fuck out of the car. They covered it for Bluebook minus deductible. Oddly enough, my brother had an 80s Regal stolen, too. It was stolen from the lot of my aunt’s restaurant in the shady part of downtown Cleveland (well er, that was most of Cleveland in the 90s). My cousin drove him around a bit until they found the car and they stole it back! ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/38 "2015-10-20T18:45:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Once that green monkey is on your back, it’s _anything_ for a fix. He probably sold that game and bought a “roach” to shoot up.☹ Nah, he used the money to buy a new weed smoker. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/39 "2015-10-20T18:52:16Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > How so? “Robbery is essentially theft accomplished through the use of physical force or fear.” If you were not present your theft was most likely a burglary. Cite: [http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2015/01/whats-the-difference-between-burglary-robbery-and-theft.html](http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2015/01/whats-the-difference-between-burglary-robbery-and-theft.html) I heard Regals were a quite sought after vehicle, so easy to break into and quickly get away. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215/40 "2015-10-20T19:14:39Z")
Yeah ,I was a victim of child abuse . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-the-victim-of-crime/735215.md?page=3)