How do burglary, robbery, and larceny differ?

• A. Burglary involves unlawful entry with intent to commit a crime; robbery uses force or intimidation to take property; larceny is unlawful taking without force.
• B. Burglary requires forcing entry; robbery does not; larceny is with permission.
• C. Robbery always involves property theft from a non-violent scenario.
• D. Larceny requires entering a structure at night.

Answer: (A)

The key idea is understanding what element each offense hinges on: the type of entry, the presence of intent, and whether force or threat is involved.

Burglary is about unlawful entry into a structure with the intent to commit a crime inside. The act that matters is the entry with criminal purpose, not whether anything is actually stolen at that moment.

Robbery focuses on taking property directly from a person (or from their immediate presence) through force or intimidation or threats. The force or fear is essential to classify the act as robbery.

Larceny is the unlawful taking and carrying away of someone else’s property without the owner's permission and without using force or threats, with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of it.

So the best-fitting description is that burglary involves unlawful entry with criminal intent, robbery involves force or intimidation to take property, and larceny involves taking property without permission and without force. The other options mix up these elements (for example, burglary doesn’t always require forcing entry; robbery isn’t non-violent; larceny isn’t about taking with permission or necessarily entering a structure at night).