A type of burglary in which a heavy vehicle is deliberately driven into the windows or doors of a building, typically a retail store or jewelry shop, to breach the entrance and allow rapid theft of merchandise; automated teller machines are also frequent targets, broken open to reach their cash boxes, with stolen goods often resold through black markets. The term originates in northern England: the Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest recorded use of ram raid to a 1987 article in the Newcastle upon Tyne Evening Chronicle, with the related term ram-raider appearing in the same source that year, though the technique itself gained wider attention after a series of raids in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1979 that went on to inspire similar crimes in countries such as Australia and New Zealand. In most jurisdictions ram raiding is prosecuted under existing burglary or robbery statutes rather than as its own defined offense, though New Zealand became a notable exception when it introduced the Ram Raid Offending and Related Measures Amendment Bill in 2023 to address the crime specifically.
Facts
Elements of OffenseUsing a vehicle to break into and gain entry into premises, or attempting to do so, usually to steal the contents 1 Jurisdiction VariationIn most jurisdictions ram-raiding is treated as a type of burglary or robbery, as few jurisdictions have defined it as a specific criminal offence 1 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Ram-raiding
Introduction, definition of the act
using a vehicle to break into and gain entry into premises, or attempt to do so, usually to steal the contents
Introduction, legal treatment
In most jurisdictions the act is considered a type of burglary, or robbery, as few jurisdictions have defined the act as a specific criminal offence.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.