Robbery and burglary sound similar and often get used interchangeably, but the law treats them as fundamentally different crimes. Robbery is taking property from a person by force, violence, or intimidation while that person is present. Burglary is entering a building or structure with the intent to commit a crime inside, whether anyone is home or not. One is a crime against a person; the other is a crime against a place. That single distinction drives nearly every other difference between them, including what prosecutors must prove, how severely each is punished, and whether a single incident produces one charge or two.
People Versus Places
The cleanest way to keep these offenses straight is to focus on what each one targets. Robbery punishes a direct confrontation: someone uses force or threats to take property from another person who is present and aware. Burglary punishes a violation of a protected space: someone enters a structure intending to commit a crime inside, and no confrontation is required.
A mugger who grabs a wallet on the sidewalk has committed robbery. A person who slips into an empty office after hours to steal a laptop has committed burglary. The mugger never entered a building; the office thief never confronted a person. Each crime has elements the other lacks, which is why prosecutors can charge both when the facts support it. Someone who breaks into an occupied home and threatens the residents to hand over valuables has committed burglary (unlawful entry with criminal intent) and robbery (taking property by force from a person) in a single act.
What Prosecutors Must Prove for Robbery
A robbery conviction requires proof of several elements beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant took property belonging to someone else. The property was taken from the victim’s body or immediate presence. The taking was accomplished through force, violence, or intimidation. And the defendant intended to keep the property permanently.
The Model Penal Code, which has shaped criminal law across most of the country, defines robbery as inflicting or threatening serious bodily injury during the course of a theft. “In the course of” includes the escape. If a shoplifter knocks down a security guard while fleeing, the crime is robbery, not just theft, even though the force happened after the taking. Many people assume the threat has to come before the property changes hands, but the law treats the entire sequence from attempt through escape as a single event.
The “immediate presence” requirement draws a tighter circle than people expect. The victim must be close enough to the property that they could have stopped the taking if not for the force or threat. Snatching a phone from someone’s hand qualifies. Pointing a weapon at a store clerk and taking cash from the register behind the counter qualifies. Taking a package from an unattended porch while the homeowner sleeps upstairs likely does not, because the owner was not in a position to resist.
Robbery Versus Simple Theft
Robbery is essentially theft with an added layer of force or fear. Simple theft, sometimes called larceny, involves taking someone’s property without permission and with intent to keep it, but it lacks the confrontational element. A pickpocket who lifts a wallet without the victim noticing commits theft. If that same pickpocket shoves the victim to grab the wallet, the crime becomes robbery. The force element is what transforms a property crime into a crime against a person and triggers significantly harsher penalties.
What Prosecutors Must Prove for Burglary
Burglary has an unusual structure compared with most crimes: the prohibited act is the entry itself, not what happens after. The Model Penal Code defines burglary as entering a building or occupied structure with the purpose of committing a crime inside. Two things follow. First, the intended crime does not need to actually happen. Someone who enters a warehouse planning to steal equipment but gets spooked and leaves empty-handed has still committed burglary. Second, the offense is complete the moment the person crosses the threshold with criminal intent.
Intent at the moment of entry is the dividing line between burglary and other property crimes. If someone enters a store lawfully during business hours and then decides to steal something, that is shoplifting or theft. If the same person enters the store after hours through a back door with a plan to take merchandise, that is burglary. The pre-existing intent to commit a crime inside the structure is what separates the two.
What Counts as a Structure
Traditional common law defined burglary narrowly: it required breaking into a dwelling house, at night, with the intent to commit a felony inside. Daytime forced entry was just trespass. Entry through an open door did not count because there was no “breaking.” Only homes qualified.
Modern statutes have abandoned most of those restrictions. The vast majority of states no longer require nighttime entry or a physical break-in. Walking through an unlocked door satisfies the entry element. The definition of “structure” has expanded well beyond homes to include offices, warehouses, storage units, and in some states even vehicles. The modern focus is on protecting any space where people have a reasonable expectation of security, not just the home.
Aggravating Factors That Raise the Charge
Both robbery and burglary can be charged at different severity levels depending on the circumstances. The gap between a baseline charge and an aggravated one is often the difference between a few years in prison and decades.
For robbery, the most common escalator is a weapon. When the crime involves a firearm, knife, or other dangerous instrument, most jurisdictions classify it as armed or aggravated robbery regardless of whether the weapon was actually used to injure anyone. Mere display of the weapon is enough. Causing serious physical injury elevates the charge further, as does robbing a particularly vulnerable victim such as an elderly person or someone with a disability. Multiple victims in a single incident can produce separate robbery counts for each person.
For burglary, the type of structure is the primary factor. Entering a home where people live is treated as more serious than entering a commercial building, because a residential break-in carries a much higher risk of a violent encounter. If someone is actually present inside during the entry, charges are typically upgraded again. Some jurisdictions still treat nighttime burglaries more severely than daytime ones, a holdover from common law. Possessing burglary tools, meaning items like lock picks or pry bars that have no innocent explanation in context, can also raise the charge.
Penalties and When the Feds Get Involved
At the state level, basic robbery convictions typically carry felony sentences of several years in prison, with the range expanding dramatically when weapons or serious injuries are involved. Armed robbery draws some of the longest sentences in criminal law outside of homicide. Burglary sentences also depend on degree: residential burglaries draw significantly longer terms than break-ins of unoccupied commercial buildings. Prior convictions can trigger enhanced sentencing provisions with longer mandatory minimums.
Certain cases jump into federal court. The federal bank robbery statute covers any robbery, burglary, or theft targeting a bank, credit union, or savings and loan whose deposits are federally insured. A straightforward bank robbery carries up to 20 years in federal prison; using a dangerous weapon or putting a life in jeopardy raises the maximum to 25 years; and if someone dies during the crime, the penalty is life imprisonment or death with a mandatory minimum of 10 years. The same statute also covers entering a federally insured financial institution with intent to commit a felony or theft inside, with the same 20- and 25-year maximums.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 2113 – Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes
Robberies that affect interstate commerce can be prosecuted under the Hobbs Act, even when no bank is involved. The statute targets anyone who obstructs or delays commerce through robbery or extortion, and courts have upheld prosecutions where the commerce impact was minimal. A Hobbs Act conviction carries up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1951 – Interference With Commerce by Threats or Violence
When a Death Turns Either Crime Into Murder
One consequence of robbery or burglary catches many people off guard: if anyone dies during the crime, every participant can be charged with murder. Under the felony murder rule, which exists in most states and under federal law, a death that occurs during the commission of certain violent felonies automatically supports a murder charge, even when the killing was accidental and the defendant never intended to hurt anyone. Robbery and burglary are among the most common felonies that trigger it.
The reach is broader than people expect. If a robbery victim has a fatal heart attack during the confrontation, the robber can face murder charges. If a homeowner shoots and kills one of two burglars, the surviving burglar can be charged with the death of their accomplice in some jurisdictions. The practical point for anyone trying to understand the difference between robbery and burglary is that both crimes carry this same severe downstream exposure, because both involve the kind of confrontation or intrusion the felony murder rule was designed to deter.