![Dandy pickpockets, diving](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Dandy_pickpockets%2C_diving.jpg)
Pickpocketing is a form of
larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engla ...
that involves the stealing of
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable
dexterity
Fine motor skill (or dexterity) is the coordination of small muscles in movement with the eyes, hands and fingers. The complex levels of manual dexterity that humans exhibit can be related to the nervous system. Fine motor skills aid in the growt ...
and a knack for
misdirection. A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket.
As an occupation
Pickpockets and other thieves, especially those working in teams, sometimes apply
distraction
Distraction is the process of diverting the attention of an individual or group from a desired area of focus and thereby blocking or diminishing the reception of desired information. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to pay attention ...
, such as asking a question or bumping into the victim. These distractions sometimes require sleight of hand, speed, misdirection and other types of skills.
Pickpockets may be found in any crowded place around the world. However,
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
were recently singled out as being particularly dangerous pickpocket havens. Thieves have been known to operate in high traffic areas such as mass transit stations, even boarding subway trains so they can use the distractions of crowds and sudden stop-and-go movements from the train to steal from others. As soon as the thieves have what they want, they simply get off at the next stop leaving the victim unable to figure out who robbed them and when.
As entertainment
Pickpocketing skills are employed by some
magicians
Magician or The Magician may refer to:
Performers
* A practitioner of magic (supernatural)
* A practitioner of magic (illusion)
* Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context
Entertainment
Books
* ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
as a form of entertainment, either by taking an item from a spectator or by returning it without them knowing they had lost it. , arguably the most famous stage pickpocket of all time, became the highest-paid European performer in circuses during the 1950s. For 60 years he was billed as "the King of Pickpockets" and encouraged his son, Charly, to follow in his cunning trade, his offspring being billed as "the Prince of Pickpockets". , a French-Tunisian illusionist, acted as technical advisor on
Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director.
Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, and s ...
's 1959 film ''
Pickpocket
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A th ...
'' and appeared as instructor and accomplice to the main character. British entertainer
James Freedman
James Freedman (born 6 April 1965) is a British entertainer who is best known for his skill as a pickpocket. He has picked the pockets of the Mayor of London, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England. In 2013 '' T ...
created the pickpocket sequences for the 2005 film ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
'' directed by
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...
. American illusionist
David Avadon
David Avadon (December 11, 1948 – August 22, 2009), formerly "David Hutchins," was an American illusionist who billed himself as the country's "premier exhibition pickpocket." He lectured and wrote a book on pickpocketing and performed his ...
featured pickpocketing as his trademark act for more than 30 years and promoted himself as "a daring pickpocket with dashing finesse" and "the country's premier exhibition pickpocket, one of the few masters in the world of this underground art." According to Thomas Blacke, an American illusionist who holds several world records, it has become more difficult nowadays to pickpocket both in the streets and on the stage because the general population wears less, or lighter, clothing. In 2015 an artist hired a pickpocket to distribute sculptures at
Frieze Art Fair
Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...
in New York.
Methods
Pickpocketing often requires different levels of skill, relying on a mixture of
sleight of hand
Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...
and misdirection. To get the proper misdirect or distraction, pickpockets will normally use the distracting environment that crowds offer or create situations using accomplices. Pickpocketing still thrives in Europe and other countries that are high in tourism. It's most common in areas with large crowds. Sometimes pickpockets put signs up that warn tourist to watch for pickpockets. This causes people to worry and quickly check if their valuables are still on them, ergo showing pickpockets exactly where their valuables are. Once a pickpocket finds a person they want to steal from, often called a "mark" or a victim, the pickpocket will then create or look for an opportunity to steal.
The most common methods used by modern-day pickpockets are:
* Driving by and snatching a passerby's items. This method is common in cities like London where mopeds are a common way to travel.
* Offering to help someone with their luggage, then proceeding to disappear in a crowded area. This method works well because it gives the victim a false sense of trust with the pickpocketer.
* The next technique involves a team of three or more people and a crowded area. After finding their mark, two of the pickpockets slow down while walking in front of their mark appearing as a lost couple. Meanwhile, the mark is stuck behind them and their accomplice goes through the mark's bag unnoticed.
* Using large crowds where there is a small doorway, like that in trains, forcing the crowd to squeeze together to get through. A pickpocket uses this opportunity to stick their hands into peoples' pockets and go unnoticed.
* Using a stooge, a fake couple, or group goes up and ask the mark for help. For example, it can be to take their photo, hold their bag, or just simply asking for directions and getting them to hold a map. As this is happening their partner is going through the mark's bags while they are distracted helping.
* Using a child to pickpocket or as a distraction is common in many countries.
* The bump is the most famous of all the ways and is often used in movies. It is where the pickpocket bumps into the mark inconspicuously, allowing them to access the mark's pockets. The bump usually requires expert sleight of hand.
* Another common technique is so-called the "slash and grab"; the pickpocket cuts a purse or bag strap without the mark's knowledge and makes off with the bag. They can then take the contents and leave behind the bag and any form of identification in the trash or a back alley.
Famous pickpockets
![Frontispiece from the memoirs of George Barrington](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Frontispiece_from_the_memoirs_of_George_Barrington.jpg)
Famous fictional pickpockets include the
Artful Dodger
Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminals ...
and
Fagin
Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dod ...
, characters from the
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' novel ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
''. Famous true-life historical pickpockets include the Irish prostitute
Chicago May
Chicago May (1871–1929) was the nickname of Mary Anne Duignan, an Irish-born criminal who became notorious in the U.S., United Kingdom and France. She referred to herself as the "queen of crooks" and sometimes used the name May Churchill.
Ear ...
, who was profiled in books;
Mary Frith
Mary Frith (c. 1584 – 26 July 1659), alias Moll (or Mal) Cutpurse, was an English notorious pickpocket and fence of the London underworld.
Meaning of nicknames
Moll, apart from being a nickname for Mary, was a common name in the 16t ...
, nicknamed Moll Cutpurse; the
Gubbins band
The Gubbins band was a group of footpads, sheep-stealers, beggars, cutpurses, cut-throats and highwaymen who inhabited the area around Lydford in Devon around the time of the English Civil War. Their leader, one Roger Rowle, has been variously cha ...
of highwaymen; and
Cutting Ball
"Cutting" Ball was a notorious criminal during the Elizabethan Age. (His name came from a "cutpurse", a thief.)
Thomas Nashe mentions a ballad written about him, which does not survive. His sister, Em, or Emma, was a prostitute, "a sorry ragged q ...
, a notorious Elizabethan thief.
George Barrington
George Barrington (14 May 1755 – 27 December 1804) (real name Walden) was an Irish-born pickpocket, popular London socialite, Australian pioneer (following his transportation to Botany Bay), and author. His escapades, arrests, and trials we ...
's escapades, arrests, and trials, were widely chronicled in the late 18th-century
London press.
Pickpocketing in the 17th and 18th centuries
![Hieronymus Bosch 051](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Hieronymus_Bosch_051.jpg)
The 17th and 18th centuries saw a significant number of men and women pickpockets, operating in public and/or private places and stealing different types of items. Some of those pickpockets were caught and prosecuted for their theft, however, in most cases, they managed to avoid punishment (whether they were skilful enough not to get caught or they were acquitted in Court). Although we refer to them as "pickpockets" today, this is not necessarily how they were called in the 17th century: they were sometimes referred to as "cut-purses", as can be seen in some 17th-century ballads.
At the time, pockets were not yet sewn to clothes, as they are today. This means that pockets were a little purse that people wore close to their body. This was especially true for women, since men's pockets were sewn "into the linings of their coats". Women's pockets were worn beneath a piece of clothing, and not "as opposed to pouches or bags hanging outside their clothes".
These external pockets were still in fashion until the mid-19th century.
Gender
Pickpocketing in the 18th century was committed by both men and women (looking at prosecuted cases of pickpocketing, it appears that there were more female defendants than male.)
Along with
shoplifting
Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...
, pickpocketing was the only type of crime committed by more women than men.
It seems that in the 18th century, most pickpockets stole out of economic needs: they were often poor and did not have any economic support,
and unemployment was "the single most important cause of poverty",
leading the most needy ones to pick pockets.
In most cases, pickpockets operated depending on the opportunities they got: if they saw someone wearing a silver watch or with a
handkerchief
A handkerchief (; also called a hankie or, historically, a handkercher or a ) is a form of a kerchief or bandanna, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric which can be carried in the pocket or handbag for personal hygiene purposes such as wi ...
bulging out of their pocket, the pickpockets took the item. This means that the theft was, in such cases, not premeditated. However, some pickpockets did work as a gang, in which cases they planned thefts, even though they could not be sure of what they would get (
Defoe Defoe may refer to:
People
*Defoe (surname), most notably English author Daniel Defoe
Places
*Defoe, Webster County, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Other uses
*Defoe (comics), a zombie story
*Defoe Shipbuilding Company, a former ship ...
's ''
Moll Flanders
''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.
By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wit ...
''
gives several examples of how pickpockets worked as a team or on their own, when the eponymous character becomes a thief out of need).
The prosecutions against pickpockets at the
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
between 1780 and 1808 show that male pickpockets were somewhat younger than female ones: 72% of men pickpockets convicted at the time were aged from under 20 to 30, while 72% of women convicted of picking pockets were aged between 20 and 40.
One reason that may explain why women pickpockets were older is that most of women pickpockets were prostitutes (this explains why very few women under 20 years old were convicted for picking pockets). At the end of the 18th century, 76% of women defendants were prostitutes, and as a result, the victims of pickpockets were more often men than women.
In most cases, these prostitutes would lay with men (who were frequently drunk), and take advantage of the situation to steal from these clients. Men who were robbed by prostitutes often chose not to prosecute the pickpockets, since they would have had to acknowledge their "immoral behaviour".
The few men who decided to prosecute prostitutes for picking their pockets were often mocked in Court, and very few prostitutes ended up being declared fully guilty.
The men who were prosecuted for picking pockets and who were under 20 years old were often children working in gangs, under the authority of an adult who trained them to steal.
The children involved in these gangs were orphans (either because of having been abandoned or because their parents had died), and the whole relationship they had with the adult ruling the gang and the other children was that of a "surrogate family".
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
'' provides a good example of how orphans were recruited and turned into street criminals.
Methods of operation and targets
![Watch for pickpockets](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Watch_for_pickpockets.JPG)
Male and female pickpockets tended to operate in different locations: 80% of men operated in public areas while 78% of women operated in private places.
This can be explained by the fact that most female pickpockets were prostitutes, robbing their victims in their lodging after having lain with them. Male pickpockets, on the other hand, tended to operate in public places because they did not have the opportunity that prostitutes had.
The fact that men and women did not operate in the same places led to them stealing different types of items: men stole mostly handkerchiefs,
because they were one of the easiest items to take from someone without them noticing it. Women tended to steal watches (some pickpockets also stole watches in public places, but it was more difficult) and bags with money in them. When defending themselves in court, prostitutes often argued that the money had been a gift from the victim and managed to be acquitted, as the men prosecuting them were often drunk at the time of the theft and were not taken seriously by the court.
Prosecution
In the eyes of British law, pickpocketing was considered a
capital offence
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
from 1565 on:
this meant that it was punishable by hanging.
However, for the crime to be considered as a capital offence, the stolen item had to be worth more than 12 pennies, otherwise it was considered to be petty
larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engla ...
,
which meant that the thief would not be hanged. The 18th century law also stated that only the thief could be prosecuted—any accomplice or receiver of the stolen item could not be found guilty of the crime: "This meant that, if two people were indicted together, and there was not clear proof as to which one made the final act of taking, neither should be found guilty".
Moreover, in order to be able to prosecute someone for pickpocketing, the victim of the theft had to not be aware that they were being robbed. In 1782, a case at the
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
made it clear that this was supposed to prevent people who had been robbed while they were drunk from prosecuting the defendant (in most of the cases that meant men who had been robbed by prostitutes):
The victims of pickpockets who were drunk at the time of the theft were considered to be partially responsible for being robbed.
Even though pickpockets were supposed to be hanged for their crime, this punishment, in fact, rarely happened: 61% of women accused of picking pockets were acquitted
and those who were not acquitted often managed to escape the capital sentence, as only 6% of defendants accused of pickpocketing between 1780 and 1808 were hanged.
In the cases of prostitutes being accused of having pickpocketed male prosecutors, the jury's verdict was very often more favourable to the woman defendant than to the man prosecuting her.
Men who had been laying with prostitutes were frowned upon by the court. One of the reasons was that they had chosen to take off their clothes, they were also drunk most of the time, so they were considered responsible for being robbed. The other reason is that it was considered bad for a man to mix with a prostitute, which is why in many cases there was no prosecution: the victim was too ashamed of admitting that he had been with a prostitute.
In those cases, since the jury was often inclined to despise the prosecutor and to side with the defendant, when they did not completely acquit the woman they often reached a
partial verdict and this mostly meant
transportation
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...
to America (that is the case for ''
Moll Flanders
''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.
By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wit ...
''
), and to Australia later on.
See also
*
School of Seven Bells
School of Seven Bells (often stylized as SVIIB) was an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 2007. It originally consisted of Alejandra Deheza (vocals, guitar), her sister Claudia Deheza (keyboards, vocals) and Benjamin Curtis ...
– musical group named after a mythical pickpocket academy
*
Blackguard Children
The Blackguard Children, sometimes also referred to as the Blackguard Youth, were known as gangs of mostly homeless orphans and runaways who, during the 17th and 18th centuries, dwelled in London's poorest neighbourhoods (such as Glass House Yard, ...
– usually poor or homeless orphans who made a living through begging and pickpocketing
References
Further reading
* – about the history of theatrical pickpocketing.
*
*
External links
How Pickpockets Work(How Stuff Works)
{{Authority control
Crimes
Illegal occupations
Property crimes